Find Your Way Home
by Ibaraz
Summary: Set in Season 7, post Grace. When Sam and McKay are stranded in space, stuck on a malfunctioning ship and with injuries to haunt them, it seems there is no way for them to get home. Back on Earth, Jack and SG-1 struggle to cope with the helpless situation. Can Sam find her way back home? Sam/Jack.
1. See You In A Week

**A/N: So, this is my first ever fanfiction of Stargate SG-1 and especially so of the couple Sam/Jack. I hope I'm not making a fool of myself with this one and I want you to know that it's all for entertainment purposes.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the general story idea behind it.**

**Summary: Sam and McKay are stranded in space, seemingly without a way to come home. Home on Earth, Jack and SG-1 feels equally hopeless. Can Sam find her way back home?**

Couples: Sam/Jack, onesided McKay-flirting

**Spoilers: Well, it's supposedly set somewhere in season 7, at least past _Grace_. Jacob's in it, later on, and it's set before _Death Knell_. So that should give you a timeframe. **

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**Chapter 1: See You In A Week**

"Chevron 1 encoded!" Sgt. Harriman's voice echoed over the speakers in the Gateroom of the SGC. Down in the gateroom Sam crouched down by her black bag and started rummaging through it to make sure she had brought everything; of course, she had already done this once before but still felt the need to double-check.

"Stop checking, Carter, you'll just wear yourself out," her CO's voice floated down to her from above. She smiled at hearing Jack's voice and stood up to meet his gaze, his brown eyes smiling back at her.

"Chevron 2 encoded!"

"Sorry, Sir," she said, half-ignoring Harriman's voice, and flashed him a brilliant smile. "I just want to make sure I haven't forgotten anything."

Jack nodded in understanding, not taking his eyes off her. She tore her gaze away from him finally in order to maintain her professionalism required at work.  
She occupied herself briefly with brushing away imaginary creases in her blue BDU's.

"I'm sure you have not forgotten anything, major Carter," Teal'c said, the Jaffa standing beside Jack. On the other side of Jack, Daniel nodded in agreement.

"Chevron 3 encoded."

The four friends looked at each other, and Sam nodded to herself before saying, "I guess this is goodbye for a week then." jokingly she added, "You won't forget me while I'm gone, will you?"

"We will not," Teal'c said and bowed his head, as if taking her question seriously.

"We'll see you in a week, Sam," Daniel said and briefly hugged her. "You take care."

"Chevron 4 encoded."

Teal'c bowed his head and wished her good luck before he and Daniel exited the room, having much work to do themselves on the base.

Sam dared a glance at her CO again, who was watching her with a silent, unreadable look.

They stood so silently for a few seconds as Harriman's voice once more echoed across the room, "Chevron 5 encoded."

"I'll see you in a week, Sir," Sam said eventually and Jack flashed her another smile.

She picked her bag up from the floor and moved to turn around when Jack spoke again, apparently not ready to say goodbye just yet.

"Just out of curiosity, Carter," Jack said, taking his hand from his pocket and pointing it in the direction of a certain other occupant of the room, "how come _he _is allowed to come?"

Just then, the person in question, Rodney McKay, stepped forward and not having heard Jack's not-so-happy-inquiry, said, "I never cease to be amazed by the… amazement of the Stargate."

"Chevron 6 encoded."

"Exiting, isn't, Sam?" McKay asked, turning his head to Sam but not waiting for an answer as he swiftly rambled on, "Just think about it…. You and I in a spaceship in remote space. _Alone_. Kind of sets the mood for a _hot romance_, doesn't it? Just try to contain yourselves until we're aboard the ship, will you?"

Jack raised his eyebrow at this statement but said nothing, instead settling for watching his 2IC stutter in response, clearly uncomfortable to be at the receiving end of _that_ question.

"Chevron 7 encoded."

The blue vortex of the Gate swirled at them before it settled in to its familiar, calm pool.

Jack turned from watching the Stargate and noticed McKay wiggling his eyebrows in Sam's direction, the latter trying to ignore this. Sam shot a glance in Jack's direction and he knew she wanted a little help. Feeling like a good samaritan, Jack turned to McKay and pointed to the Stargate, "Oh, look, McKay. The Gate's opened. Perhaps you ought to go through it, wouldn't want to keep the guys on the other side waiting, would we?"

"Right," McKay nodded and gave Jack's shoulder a hard pat before stepping onto the ramp and walking towards the twirl, before stepping through he stopped, turned back and called, "Come on, Sam! Let's go."

Sam took a deep breath and flashed Jack a smile before stepping up on the ramp as well. Beside her, Jack stepped up too. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him but he merely shrugged, "Figured I might as well walk you to the Gate."

Even though his voice tried to sound aloof Sam could still hear a childish playfulness that Jack seemed to reserve only for her, the thought made her smile again and she replied, "Thank you, Sir."

"Are you coming _this _century?" McKay called restlessly. With a staged sigh, he stepped through the event horizon and was gone.

As one Jack and Sam started walking towards the Gate, Sam spoke, "About your previous question, Sir… He did volunteer for this. I was asked by Alpha Site to drive Earth's newest ship-"

"The Arcanum," Jack said and nodded.

"Right, Sir. I was asked to take the Arcanum out for its first spin around space, from PX3-983 to Alpha Site, to test the engines and make sure that they are functioning according to plan. The guys at Alpha Site requested a full report detailing the progress and process of the engines, as well as a full reading on both the heat- and oxygen meters, hyperdrive function and any other technique that I or McKay tests out."

"…And this you wanted to do on your one free week, Carter?" he asked in mock disbelief.

Sam chuckled lightly at him, her eyes twinkling in the same blue shade as the Stargate, "Yes, Sir. What better way to spend a week?"

"Ah, good question," Jack nodded. Even though he didn't say it aloud, he wished he was coming too, but when he had asked it had been too late. Alpha Site had said that two test-drivers would be enough and when Jack had offered his assistance the second seat had already been filled.

"In my defense, Sir," Sam said, "I didn't know at the time when I accepted that McKay was coming too. I mean, he did accept after I did, Sir."

"Yeah, I know, I'm not holding it against you," Jack answered. "I'm just worried about your sanity, Carter."

Sam giggled at this and Jack smiled back, his heart still leaping at his 2IC's smile.

"We're just talking about a week, Sir. I think I'll manage. Besides, even if I don't, I've been given permission to enter hyperspace shortly in case something happens. I think the technicians at Alpha Site know about McKay too."

"I thought you weren't supposed to push the ship, not yet at least?"

"That's true, Sir. Since it's the Arcanum's first trip, we're not supposed to push the engines to keep them from overpowering. This is just to warm the ship up and make sure it runs properly."

Jack took a deep breath and stopped; only a few short inches in front of them lay the glimmering blue event horizon. They had reached the Gate and this meant that he could no longer postpone their goodbye, next to him Sam turned to him.

"Take care, Carter," Jack said as he looked at her, Sam noticed how his voice was slightly softer then before.

"You too, Sir."

"Yeah sure, ya betcha," he promised.

Sam smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling with happiness, "I'll take your word for it, Sir."

"So, when's it gonna be?" Jack asked suddenly, hoping for a last postponing act, making Sam frown up at him in confusion.

"Sir?"

Jack smiled, he loved making his 2IC confused, since it was no more than a rare treat to the colonel, "When are you going to stop calling me 'sir' when we're alone, as I believe I've asked of you before?"

"Sir…"

"I'm talking about private time, Sam. No one's gonna have to know how '_insubordinate' _you've been." he said, making quotation marks in the air as he said the word insubordinate. As an afterthought he added, "I believe you can call me Jack in front of Daniel and Teal'c too, they won't mind."

Sam smiled up at him, her blue orbs looking into his dark ones, "Yes, sir."

"No 'sir', call me 'Jack', or 'O'Neill' if you must… or how about 'handsome devil'? I'd listen to that," Jack said jokingly, hoping to catch her off guard.

"Only if you call me 'sweetiepie', Sir." Sam answered, not missing a beat, but what appeared to be a faint blush crept up her cheeks.

Jack chuckled at her boldness, it had been a long time since they'd enjoyed some harmless flirting, "Yes, Major."

Sam smiled widely up at him once more and they kept their gazes locked, Jack sensed that he wasn't the only one of them who didn't want to say goodbye. As he gazed into her eyes he saw a forbidden, repressed emotion and he wished he could speak more words to her, to tell her just how worried he actually was that she was going on this mission without him. As he always was when she did. As if reading his thoughts she said," I'll be fine, Sir."

"I know you will," he said and hoped that his eyes were telling her all that he couldn't admit or say out loud.

As if then realizing there were others in the Gateroom, Jack looked around.

"Well... Bye," he said finally and leaned slightly closer before adding in a low whisper, "_Sweetiepie_."

She smiled gently at him and Jack glanced down at her lips briefly, wishing regulations weren't standing in his way of kissing her right then and there. Instead, he acted on his military training and took a respectable step back.

"Bye, Jack. See you in a week," Sam said softly, still smiling before turning to the Gate. Without glancing back, she walked through it, leaving Jack to watch as the Gate was shut off, the blue twirl disappearing in a flash.

He stood so a few seconds before nodding to himself and turning back around. With steady steps, he began the long walk down the ramp and back to work, the long walk to wait for his 2IC to return. He wished she would return to him safely, and he knew this would be another long week of waiting. Though, he didn't mind it too much since she always returned home to him. With a last glance at the Gate, he walked out from the Gateroom and headed for Daniel's office, hoping to kill some time torturing the archaeologist by playing with some of his precious stones and artifacts.

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**A/N: That's the first chapter! I hope you like it!  
Now, I just want to give you a tiny apology before this story really gets starting because I didn't realise, when I first thought of this, that I've just put two of Stargate's most brilliant scientists together on a ship and seeing as they're so brilliant they should be able to figure things out pretty quickly. But, I've decided, sometimes brilliance isn't enough to get you home...**

Please leave a tiny review as that would make me very happy! To those of you who've read this far: Thank you and I hope you decide to stick around for the rest. :).


	2. Catastrophe Strikes

**A/N: Chapter 2! Hope you like it!**

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**Chapter 2: Catastrophe strikes **

"Are we ready to get this baby flying?" Rodney asked as he sat down in the captain's seat aboard the Arcanum's bridge. Over on his right, Sam sat down behind a control panel.

"Not quite yet, Rodney," she responded. "I have to get the engine online and check that everything is functional first. Might take awhile."

Rodney sighed and nodded in understanding, then his restless knees decided that sitting wasn't the most entertaining option so he stood from his seat and looked around. With just two passengers aboard it was easier to see what a massive ship it actually was, the bridge alone was bigger then McKay's apartment. Well, almost anyway.

Casually, he strode over to the big window at the front of the ship and looked down to the surface of PX3-983, a planet which had for quite some time now been the secret base for Earth's development of spaceships. The planet itself was insignificant with only moderate technological advancements and not one of the Goa'uld-planets, the inhabitants of the planet were very kind though, and had supplied the Arcanum with food for months.  
With the help of both Tok'ra and Asgard the development of the spaceships had been a smooth ride, the Asgard had also been kind enough to give the Tau'ri technology they'd never seen before. For example, on the Arcanum the Asgard had helped install a faster and safer hyperdrive function then that of the Prometheus. It was also complete with several crystals and a powerful force shield. Though, McKay hoped, the latter he and Sam wouldn't have to test in action on this one week trip.

It was really a simple journey, nothing much was expected of them. They were just supposed to fly across a galaxy (Rodney couldn't really remember which one it was) and land at Alpha Site, where the scientists would take care of the rest. For someone with McKay's intellect, it actually was a boring trip, nothing to stimulate the mind. And truth was, Rodney never had a thought about joining this mission at first. As a matter of fact, he'd wanted to protest to the big guys about the disadvantages of just two people in charge of the first trip. But then he had heard that Sam had been offered the first seat, and his opinion had changed completely. In order to get the second seat he had chased down a general and might have threatened that it was in Earth's best interest if he was allowed on the ship too, Rodney couldn't quite remember the details.

But he had immediately gotten the second seat, which did surprise him. He had expected at least some competition, but there had barely been any. Apparently the Air force couldn't spare anyone, the SGC had enough problems with enemies across the galaxies and maintaining allies as it was, they couldn't spare anyone on such a standard mission. Though, Rodney recalled, after he had gotten the second seat he had heard a rumor that colonel O'Neill, Sam's commanding officer, had requested the second seat as well. Rodney felt bad for the poor bloke, it couldn't have been more then a rumor from desperate Airmen with nothing better to do then gossiping like little girls.  
What fun could the colonel possibly have all alone in outer space with Sam for a week?

Rodney shook his head. No, the colonel was much too dumb to be able to keep up with Sam's genius mind, he'd probably have been bored to death on the third day.

No, Sam needed someone on this trip that could keep up with her. And, he was sure, this could become quite the _hot _trip. Rodney smiled to himself, he knew the major behind him liked him. Maybe not for looks, but certainly all the more for his stunning intellect.

Rodney suddenly had a thought, or more of a feeling. A feeling of behind watched by none other then Samantha Carter. He smiled smugly to himself, she had been able to keep a straight face for this long, but no more. He just knew she was sitting there, ogling him while thinking he didn't know. But he did know, and he was positive he could catch her in the act. Quickly he spun around with a wide smile on his lips, the smile, however, was quickly wiped off. Not only was she _not _ogling him, but she was sitting with her back towards him, deeply concentrated on the panels.

Rodney cleared his throat and turned back to the window.

"There…" Sam said, having checked the last of the controls. "I think we're ready for takeoff, Rodney. 

You should take a seat."

Rodney immediately headed back for the captain's seat and sat down, the grin back on his face.

He watched as Sam pressed a few buttons, and a low buzzing sound could be heard somewhere in the background. But apart from that, nothing happened. McKay raised his eyebrows and was just about to comment on it, when the ship suddenly rose into the air.

"Space, here I come!" Rodney cheered and exchanged a smile with Sam.

Sam took the controls and set course for the dark of space, leaving PX3-983 below.

"I hope there won't be any traffic," Rodney mused as they drove further into the dark abyss.

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Almost four days later, Rodney felt dismayed. The fun trip of deep intellectual conversations he had hoped for had turned out to be nothing but. When getting into space Sam had quickly engaged the autopilot and given him a few shores to do while getting to work herself. Daily they checked the readings of every function aboard the ship. But where it took McKay an hour at most to do his work it took Sam at least 3 hours. She insisted on double-checking, sometimes triple-checking, everything and Rodney was beginning to wonder if she wasn't trying to avoid him in a way.

Thankfully, he had been wise enough to bring two digital cameras on the trip, insisting that he ought to record everything that happened in a digital diary. Sam hadn't objected much about it, but then again she had been busy checking the fluctuations of the engines energy when he had brought it up.

As it was now, Sam was still working hard on her shores, checking the energy readings of the heat-meter and the oxygen-meter. Next to her, Rodney sat on a simple wheeling chair that he had found. Slowly he wheeled it across the room, the wheels squeaking almost painful as he did so.

"Rodney," Sam said, her voice sounding tired. "Could you please stop doing that? I'm trying to work here."

"But I'm bored, Sam. I don't see why we can't talk about deep space telemetry while you work. You're a woman in the military, you're supposed to be able to do more then one thing at a time."

"Do you base that assertion on me being a woman, or me being in the military?" Sam questioned amusedly.

"Both," Rodney mumbled. "Come on, Sam! There's not much else to do here, I'm done with the computer readings, everything is working fine. And even if it wasn't I would've been able to fix it in no time. And it's the same with your work. There's no need to keep checking things as often as you do, Sam. It's not healthy to be that obsessed with their job, trust me."

"I'm just being thorough," Sam defended herself, although it was a mild lie. She was in truth trying to avoid any awkward conversations with McKay that would end with her feeling pissed off at him, which wasn't too hard seeing as he was already starting to get on her nerves.

She remembered the colonel's words before she left; _"I'm just worried about your sanity, Carter." _She smiled at the memory and secretly wished that it had been Jack instead of Rodney that had gone with her, but he hadn't showed any interest in the trip as far as she knew.

Rodney sighed deeply and then picked up his camera, directing it at her and pressing record.

"Want to tell the camera what you're working on?" he asked, his only response was Sam turning towards him with a deadly glare. Rodney immediately shut off the camera.

"Just let me do my work in peace, Rodney," Sam proclaimed. "The sooner I'm done, the sooner we can talk…"

"No, we can't. Cause once you're done with that you have to check the crystals…"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me," Sam smiled.

"Can't we at least play a game of some sort?" Rodney asked. "Nothing too difficult?"

"You're not talking about I Spy are you?"

"…No."

Sam smiled to herself. Since day 1 Rodney had suggested that they'd play that, the first time around she had agreed and he had started to describe one of the intricate controls aboard the ship. It was so very Rodney-like to complicate a simple game as I Spy, then again, there wasn't much else he could have spied aboard the ship.

"Sam, I know you've already said no once but I was thi-"

"No," Sam interrupted.

"Oh, come on!" McKay whined. "I'm just asking for 30 seconds of using the hyperdrive."

"No, McKay, not yet," Sam said sternly. "I don't want to push the ship yet."

"You know just as well as I do that 30 seconds won't push the engines over the edge."

"You don't know that, Rodney,"

"Of course I don't know that, we haven't tried it yet! If you would just let me-"

"McKay, wait a few more days. I promise we can try it out towards the end, but I don't want to try it out now when we're so far away from our goal. If something goes wrong we can be stuck here for quite awhile."

"Sam, we have a radio. If something happens we just contact Alpha Site and they come get us. I don't even think we're going to need that considering that between the two of us we'd be capable of disarming a nuke the size of Canada."

"Just be patient, Rodney," Sam said, making it clear she had said her part by turning back to her work once more.

"…Spoilsport," McKay muttered and stood from his chair. "If you're not going to entertain me, I just have to find something else to do."

With that he turned away from her and headed out the door, in the distance he heard Sam shouting after him, "Don't touch the hyperdrive, McKay!"

"Yeah, yeah…" he muttered as he walked towards the bridge, the automatic doors opened before him and he stepped inside. He walked over to the captain's seat and sat down, his eyes looked out the big window at the stars that swept past them as they went through space. The sight truly was breathtaking and Rodney loved being this close to the stars, but there was only so much stargazing one man could do before he got bored of that too.

He heaved another sigh and placed his camera down on the control panel on his right side, as he did his eyes were drawn to the big hyperdrive button.

Rodney looked around to make sure Sam was nowhere nearby and moved down to sit by the control panel, his eyes once more going to the hyperdrive button. His fingers itched to press it but he knew he couldn't.

_Aw, what the heck_, he thought and raised his hand. But it stopped mid-air. With a frustrated sigh he lowered his hand once more, _damn you, conscience!_

His gaze then flew to another button, a blue, oval one. Rodney wasn't sure what it controlled but it sure was tantalizing him where it was, just waiting for someone to press it…

But he couldn't, could he?

_Technically_, he reminded himself, _Sam only told you not to press the hyperdrive button. She said nothing about any oval ones…_

He knew he probably shouldn't, but in the end his curiosity won him over. He reached out his hand and pressed it, up in the right corner of the panel a red light suddenly started blinking.

_Oh, shit._

That probably wasn't such a good sign. Rodney panicked and glanced back at the doors, hoping Sam wouldn't choose that moment to walk in.  
Instinctively, he pressed the oval button once more. The red light only intensified its blinking. Rodney's heartbeat increased and randomly he started pressing other buttons, hoping one of them would be the right one to turn off the light.  
After pressing about 10 buttons without any luck he considered calling out for Sam to get her help, but then the red light suddenly stopped blinking and became a constant, alarming light source. Rodney's hand pressed the oval button again, but this time around it had worse consequences.  
The entire ship rocked as he heard a dull boom somewhere at the back of the ship. Rodney tried his hardest to remain in his seat but it was hard as everything shook violently, while trying to maintain a grip on the panel his hand accidentally pressed the hyperdrive button.  
A second explosion rocked the ship as it, without much warning, zoomed away into hyperspace.

The force from both explosion and entering hyperspace knocked McKay from his seat and he fell unconscious on the floor while the Arcanum swiftly flew through space at breakneck speed, heading for unknown destination.

**TBC...**


	3. Awakening

**A/N: Here's chapter 3!**

**And thank you guys for reviewing, it made me positive about this story!** _Nemesis_ **recently and Thor mentioned the generator etc. So I used that knowledge here. I'm just hoping that you can be patient with me, because I'm trying to do this my way and I'm at least trying to get as much information as possible about how these things work, but it's not too easy.**

**Have a nice day/evening, guys!. :)**

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**Chapter 3: Awakening**

Jack passed Sgt. Siler and nodded his greeting as he made his way through Stargate Command. He made his way up the spiral stairs to the briefing room and swiftly crossed it with his long, wide steps. Within a matter of seconds he reached the grey door to the general's office and knocked.

"Come in," he heard George's voice call, Jack opened the door and stepped inside.

"General," Jack greeted as he closed the door behind him. General Hammond looked up at him from where he sat behind his desk.

Jack stepped closer, "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Jack, have a seat," George said and indicated with his hand the chair opposite the desk.

"Is this about Carter?" Jack asked cautiously while sitting down, his eyes showed a worry he masked within seconds.

"No, colonel, major Carter and Dr. McKay are not scheduled to arrive at Alpha Site for another two days."

"Ah, yes… of course," Jack said, feeling stupid for jumping to conclusions.

"Actually, colonel, I wanted to see you to discuss that report of yours that is very much overdue," George said.

"Ah, you see, sir," Jack said and shifted in his seat. But before he could continue there was a knock on the door. Both Jack and George turned to the door as Sgt. Harriman stepped into the room, looking particularly uncomfortable.

"Sirs," Walter greeted. Jack and George waited for him to continue but Harriman stood silently by the door, looking almost as if he wished to escape.

"…Was there anything you wanted, sergeant?" Jack eventually asked.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"For what?"

"For having to be the one telling you the following, sir. It's about major Carter and Dr. McKay, sir."

"Have they arrived already at Alpha Site?" Hammond asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"No, sir," Walter said, shaking his head. "The Arcanum has gone missing, sir."

Jack immediately turned to look at George, who looked as shocked as Jack felt. Jack slowly turned back to Harriman, "What do you mean _'gone'_, sergeant?"

"Gone as in disappeared, sir. The scientists at Alpha Site sent us a radio transmission a few minutes ago saying that they were following the ship on their radar when suddenly there was an explosion and then the ship wasn't on the radar anymore. They're gone, sir."

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A heavy cloak seemed to hang over her head, she couldn't see anything, let alone feel anything. Sam felt like she was in a vacuum, not sure what exactly was going on. Her every move felt like it came with a delayed reaction, every thought seemed to come slowly to her head, almost as if her entire being was wading through thick syrup.

Trying to focus, Sam tried to recall what had happened and where she was. She didn't remember much really, she had just begun working on the ship's crystals when everything had shook violently. She tried to recall if she had heard anything, but she couldn't quite remember. It was possible that she had heard a loud bang from below, coming from somewhere in the engines, but she wasn't sure.

All she knew was that the shaking had flung her back at a cabinet and she had been knocked unconscious, which meant that was probably what she remained as. She needed to wake up, she needed to make sure the ship was still intact. What if they had been attacked and boarded by Goa'ulds? What if she and Rodney were captives? _Rodney_! What if he was hurt, or worse…

She needed to regain consciousness to figure out what was going on. Slowly she tried to clear her mind, but found the process slow and tiresome. She refused to give in though, trying to keep her focus on getting out alive. For awhile she felt like she wasn't making any progress when suddenly things started becoming clearer and a sharp pain intruded her head. She hissed slightly, but still knew it was a good sign that she would soon awake. Finally she managed to get control of her eyes and opened them, the blinding light cut in to them like knifes and she swiftly closed them again. She felt herself being overpowered by the dark once more, but fought to regain control.

_You can't give in now_, she thought to herself. _You can't go back to sleep now_.

Slowly she opened her eyes yet again, this time with more caution. The light didn't hurt as much, but she still felt delirious.

Where was she? She looked around and realized that she was lying on the ground, she frowned in confusion.

_Oh, right, the ship shook and I fell._

Sam's mind was clearer now and she was certain this time that she had heard a bang before falling unconscious. Very slowly she sat up from the ground, supporting herself heavily on her shaking arms. The movement unsettled her stomach and she leaned back to try and repress the nausea. She was painfully reminded of a few months back when she had been in a similar predicament. _Trapped on a spaceship somewhere in space…_

Sam moved her hand up to her forehead and hissed as she came in contact with a warm liquid, she looked at her fingers.

_Blood. Probable concussion. Yep, just like last time, eh, Sam?_

But it wasn't really like last time, now was it? There was one major difference this time around. Rodney. This time she wasn't completely alone on the ship and she had to find him to make sure he was alright. Sam doubted she'd be able to do this once again if she was all alone.

She pushed herself up from the ground, leaning against the cabinets behind her.

"…Rodney," she called, but it came out barely louder then a whisper, if anything at all. Her head ached so much that she wasn't even sure if she had been able to make a sound by any means.

She staggered over to the door, it didn't open automatically for her. She raised her hands to the doors and started prying them open. It was hard work for someone as weakened as her, but eventually she got them open enough to squeeze through. She leaned heavily against the wall before continuing.

"Rodney," Sam called again, this time louder. She waited a few seconds, but there was no response. Everything was quiet. _Too quiet_, she noted. She couldn't even hear the low hum of the engines.

"McKay!" Sam called, starting to make her way through the hallway while leaning against the wall.

There was silence for a few seconds and Sam wondered where he could possibly be.

Suddenly his voice broke the air, "Sam?"

"McKay!" she called again, this time with a relieved smile on her lips. She staggered forwards. "Where are you, Rodney?"

"I'm on the bridge."

She followed his voice until she stood outside the bridge's closed doors. Taking a deep breath she started prying the doors open with her fingers, this time around it was more exhausting and when she finally managed to get them open she felt her head spinning. She squeezed through the doors and tried to focus on McKay or, she quickly noted, both of them. She was seeing double after the recent happenings and had to wait a few minutes until there was only one McKay left in her line of sight. She noticed that he was standing with his back towards her.

"Rodney?" she called cautiously and he turned around to face her. "Are you injured?"

"I think I am," he said feebly and Sam hurried closer, leaning heavily on the control panel to keep from falling.

"Where?" she asked and she saw his unfocused eyes. Sam pulled a deep breath, she remembered that look clearly. Rodney was going into a state of shock. "Rodney!"

Slowly his head turned in her direction and she continued with a gentle tone, "Where, Rodney? Where are you injured?"

He immediately reached out his hand to her, waving it in front of her face.

"My pinkie, Sam. I think I broke my pinkie. Can you tell me if it's bleeding, Sam? Is it bleeding?"

Sam frowned at him, _he had definitely come out of that shock quickly_. Sam shook her head slightly and turned her attention to his hand, "Rodney…"

"Oh, god, it's bleeding isn't it? I'm going to have to amputate it, there's no saving it no-" Rodney rambled quickly, Sam felt her headache increasing.

"Rodney!" she interrupted and he stopped rambling long enough to watch her. "Is that all?"

He frowned back at her, "What do you mean _'is that all'_? I think it's _broken_, Sam."

"Can you bend it, Rodney?"

He kept frowning at her, "Of course I can't."

To prove his point he held up his hand and started bending each one of his fingers, one by one, when finally coming to his pinkie he scrunched up his face but it bended none the less. Amazed by this, Rodney looked down at his finger, "Hey, what do you know… I could bend it."

"Fascinating," Sam said sarcastically. "I doubt it's broken, Rodney."

"Yeah, well, it still hurts," Rodney whined before glancing at her, his eyes focused on the bleeding wound on her forehead. "You injured?"

"No, just a scratch really," she said hastily and shook her head, an action which she soon regretted as the headache intensified and she slumped down in a chair close by, hoping that Rodney hadn't seen her brief lapse of strength. Thankfully, he hadn't. Instead he had turned to look out the gigantic window, a frown upon his face.

"Sam, where are we?" he asked and she followed his gaze. She looked out at the black space and shrugged.

"I don't know, Rodney. I was hoping you could tell me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'd like to know what happened, to begin with."

"You're assuming I'm responsible for this! You are jumping to conclusions, Sam, you have to let me defend myself before you jump at my throat!"

"Rodney!" Sam raised her voice and he looked back at her shamefully. She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to talk.

"Alright!" he said eventually, throwing his arms into the air. "So I might have accidentally done something that sent us off into hyperspace."

"Yes, I gathered as much, Rodney. I want to know what you did," Sam said slowly.

"Well, I pressed the oval button there," Rodney said and pointed to the control panel. "And a red light started flashing, so I pressed the same button to make it stop. Needless to say, that didn't work. So I pushed a few other buttons and well… I don't think you should combine some of the buttons I pressed because an explosion rocked the ship. I tried to regain control, accidentally hit the hyperdrive button and… here we are now."

"I think there was a second explosion…," Sam said distantly, trying to remember the events but feeling the memories fade away from her again. "And if it hit us as we entered hyperspace it might have affected our jump, perhaps throwing us somewhat off course or affecting the acceleration. I can't say for sure though, but if it has… well, we'll just find out about that later…"

"Hey, Sam," Rodney called and Sam looked up at him, "This is just a piece of cake for the two of us, right? I mean, this can't be too bad, we ought to be able to have it fixed in no time… right?"

"Honestly, I don't know, Rodney," Sam said with a sigh, "I haven't even had the time to check the engines, and we don't know exactly what's damaged."

Sam looked down at the black control panel, not a single light was shining back at her. She tried pressing a few of the buttons but got no response.

"The engine seems to be dead, we have no operational controls available. The two explosions must have damaged the engine, it's possible that the generator got a bruising as well, I should have a look at that later."

"Any idea what buttons I might have pressed to… do this?" Rodney asked cautiously.

"The only thing I can tell you, besides that you pressed the hyperdrive, is that you pressed the cloaking-button."

"You mean… I accessed the cloaking device? That was why the red light flashed?"

Sam nodded in response.

"So… are we cloaked?" Rodney asked but shook his head and quickly answered his own question, "Of course we aren't, the engines are offline, there's nothing to power a cloak at the moment."

"Hey, Rodney?" Sam asked. "Were you awake when we were in hyperdrive or did you wake up after we stopped?"

"After we stopped, why?" Rodney asked but quickly caught on to her line of thought. "I didn't tell the engine to stop, technically we ought to still be in hyperspace at the moment. So why aren't we? The hyperdrive is engineered by the crystals and the generator, if one or both is broken the hyperdrive would be out of order."

"Exactly. And in this case, I really think it is both," Sam said. "I didn't take a good look at the crystals before I got here, but I had pulled the compartment out to check them. It's very possible one of them might have taken a hit from something during the violent shakings… and if they have…"

"…we need to find spare crystals, because if we don't, we won't be able to jump into hyperspace again. We can fix the generator, most likely, but we'd still need a crystal," Rodney finished.

"I wonder how long we were knocked out…" Sam thought out loud.

"Yes, well… We can check the oxygen-meter for that later, right now we need to concentrate on the task at hand. Fixing the engine so that we can fly back the way we came from," Rodney said.

"And which way would that be?" Sam asked.

"Well, _obviously_, behind us, Sam," Rodney said and looked at her as if it was the most understandable thing in the universe.

Sam slowly shook her head and Rodney's eyes widened.

"What do you mean 'no'?" he asked quickly.

"Take a look, Rodney," Sam said and Rodney turned back to the window. He tried desperately to figure out what she meant but found the spinning of the ship to be not only annoying, but while looking at the stars at the same time it made him feel a bit nauseous. Rodney stopped in his line of thoughts.

"Oh, please tell me no one's rotating! Please tell me the stars aren't rotating, Sam!" Rodney said. "I mean, I know stars can, and most often do, rotate in an orbit around itself or around an other star, but _please_, don't tell what I think is happening here..."

"Well, McKay…" Sam said slowly. "The stars are rotating. But what's really rotating at that speed is us… The Arcanum is rotating in space without the power of the engines to prevent it from doing so. Who knows how many laps we've turned around our own axle…"

"So, basically… we don't know what direction we came from. But if we can get the engines online we should be able to look that up… on… the… radar…" Rodney's voice faded away as he had, in the 

middle of speaking, turned towards the radar panel and saw that it had all but completely been destroyed, its circuits looked damaged all the way from where Rodney stood.

"How is that possible?" Rodney asked, pointing at the shattered radar. "There was no explosion on the bridge. The only way for that to have happened is if… a flow of energy must have been released when the engine exploded and the radar must have been in direct contact with the energy outlet, whole thing's probable serial wired… Other controls might be damaged the same way…"

Sam heaved a deep sigh and massaged her temples, the pain in her head was increasing.

Rodney watched her for a second, before quietly asking, "What do we do now?"

Sam looked back at him and shrugged. "We do what we do best; Try to solve this problem. We check out the oxygen-meter to see how much we have left and how much we've lost, then we look at the generator and crystals before having a go at the engine, I suppose. Let's see if this is fixable and go from there."

"Great…"

* * *

**A/N: And that's that chapter! I hope you liked it!  
I feel kinda bad for Sam and Rodney, I mean... the bad things just don't seem to stop, their situation isn't looking very bright at the moment.  
No engine, no radar, headinjury, injured pinkies, etc.  
Well, if you want to know what will happen to them, just stay tuned. I'll try to update a new chapter within a week.**

_In the next chapter: Daniel and Teal'c learn about the accident and Jack lets his emotions flare. Meanwhile, Sam and Rodney try to figure out how to get back home._


	4. Don't Lose Hope

**A/N: Here's chapter 4! In this there's some techno babble between Sam/McKay, but I hope I made it somewhat understandable. I watched a tv-show about where Earth might be evolving in the future so I got all the knowledge of nuclear fission from that. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the show. I hope the facts are correct too.  
Anyway, what I loved most about this chapter was writing the first part with Jack o co. talking about what might have happened. I hope I didn't make the characters too OOC, I _personally_ think they're pretty much in character, but that's up for you to decide!**

**And thank you to all my reviewers!  
****  
_makki_ - (to both of your reviews) thank you! I took a chance there with Sam saying 'sweetiepie', I doubt she'd actually say it on the show, but I just wanted something between them. :). Jack is definitely worried out of his mind! I would be too! Yep, this is after Grace. Jack mentions it in this chapter. Which, of course, only makes it worse because he's already been through this and probably didn't expect it to happen again.**

**_mia66_ - (to both also)Thank you! I think Sam and Rodney make for a good story too, though... both are so clever it makes it hard to write for them... Especially McKay. Ah, well, it's still a lot of fun! I hope you'll like what comes next, in this Sam/Rodney speak about what trouble they're in so we'll just see what happens to them... :).**

**_gater62_ - Thank you! I hope you like the rest too!**

**_vball2003_ - I liked the flirting part too, that's why I wrote it. ;). **

**_lkhoward88_ - You know? Oh, I'm curious to see what you think, if you'd like to share your thoughts? :).**

**_Sakura999_ - Thank you very much! :). You know, someone else gave me that advice before and I uploaded a LOTR story there but I didn't get much response then... I might try it with this one, though I want to get a bit further into the story before I do. **

**Now, I won't bore you anymore! On to the chapter! :).**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Don't Lose Hope**

"So, you're basically saying that Sam's… gone?" Daniel asked from where he sat next to Teal'c around the table in the briefing room. Jack and General Hammond were also there with them and they'd just informed both Daniel and Teal'c of the latest news.

"Basically… yeah," Jack said slowly, his voice a hint of irritation.

"What if the exp-" Daniel began but Jack quickly cut him off.

"Don't say it, Daniel," the colonel warned, his eyes dancing with anger at the mere thought of the statement that Daniel had been about to say.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but I think we ought to keep an open mind about this. We have to be open for all probabilities at the time, even if this particular one isn't very pleasant… it still is a possibility, Jack," Daniel's voice became lower and lower as he spoke, the dawning of what his own words were implying settled in his mind and eventually the archeologist's eyes settled for watching the tabletop. Across the table Jack glared at him, his own hands resting precariously on the tabletop's edge.

"I believe Daniel Jackson is correct, colonel O'Neill," Teal'c said, his voice not giving off any indications of worry for their friend in space, though all knew he was worried beneath his stoic façade.

"Oh_, I know_!" Jack said, changing his glare to Teal'c briefly, before turning to General Hammond. "So, sir, what's the plan?"

"At the moment we're waiting for the radar scans from Alpha Site to be brought to us, colonel. Once we have had a chance to observe them and hopefully found an answer to all this, I will make further decisions."

"So you haven't contacted her dad yet?" Jack asked, his tone no longer as angry, but all the more impassive.

"Not yet, colonel," George said and eyed his 2IC. "But I will once we have more answers, you can trust me on that. Unfortunately, this might take awhile, seeing as we're not entirely sure what we're looking for on those scans. Having either major Carter or Dr. McKay in on this would be of great aid…"

"What are you saying, general?" Daniel asked.

"I'm not saying anything, son. I'm merely pointing out that our two best scientists are lost in space when we could really need their help."

"Yes, sir. Carter would _really _be of help now," Jack muttered sarcastically from his seat.

Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a glance at their friend's obvious sadness, it wasn't often that Jack was this angry or openly displaying his emotions over anything, but both Daniel and Teal'c knew that Jack occasionally would let his guard down when it concerned Sam's safety.

The group of four settled into a somber silence, all lost in their own thoughts. Jack was reminded how only a few months ago he had been through this very thing: Sam. Lost in space. _Again_. With a deep sigh he lowered his head and muttered, "What does she have against spaceships?"

Teal'c raised a questioning eyebrow, "I do not believe major Carter has anything against spaceships, O'Neill."

"Well then, maybe _they _have something against her."

Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a second glance.

"Do not give up hope so easily, O'Neill. It is not what major Carter would have wanted."

"I'm not giving up hope, T. In fact, I'm sure nothing's wrong with her. If anyone can pull off a party trick this… _astronomical_ it's Carter. I'm sure she'll walk in here in about an hour, apologize for scaring the crap out of us and then everything will go back to the way it's supposed to be."

"Jack…" Daniel said but a sharp glance from Jack stopped him from continuing.

"_The way it's supposed to be_," Jack repeated.

"Son, I want you to prepare yourself for the worst," George said and Jack's head whipped in the general's direction, Jack literally had to bite his tongue as to not say anything subordinate to his commanding officer.

"So what are we supposed to do until the radar scans arrive?" Jack finally asked.

"Nothing, colonel. SG-1 is on downtime till this is solved."

"Great… Just great," Jack muttered. "Permission to be dismissed, sir?"

"Granted, colonel," Hammond responded and Jack slammed his hands onto the table top before swiftly exiting the room. The other three watched him go, all with their own morose expression of sympathy.

* * *

Sam sighed audibly as she looked down at the crystals, most of them were shining without any damages but what she had feared was true. The hyperdrive crystal was shattered, it seemed to have imploded from a short, but extremely high, energy burst.

Sam blinked her eyes rapidly a few times, trying to clear her thoughts. She reached up a hand to the gauze bandage on her forehead, not long after their get-together on the bridge she and McKay had looked for the First Aid kit and tended to their wounds. By now, Sam was certain that she had a concussion, and from the feel of it, not a pleasant one. She actually doubted she'd be able to keep a level head much longer, but now wasn't the time to faze out. She needed to get the shards of the crystal out from its compartment and make sure that McKay looked for a spare. Speaking of McKay, where was he?

Sam looked around in the steely room. She had been confident he had been in there with her just minutes ago, where could he have gone?

"Rodney?" Sam called.

"Don't worry, my _sexy _major," she heard him answer, his voice floating back to her from the hallway outside. Suddenly he appeared in the doorway, a confident smile on his lips.

"Where were you?" Sam asked.

"I was just recording a McKay-message on the camera," he explained and stepped inside to lean against the wall.

"A what now?"

"A McKay-message. A journal entry on the camera, I told you about it before I left the room."

"You did? I must have forgotten…" Sam said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well… I don't mind telling you again. You know I've been recording our progress through space on the camera several times before the explosion, well… I decided that the people back home need to know about this too, so I filmed a few clips of my hand… but, wait, I'm wearing the bandage. Let me just record another clip without the bandage and I-"

Rodney started to turn away as if to leave but Sam called him back.

"Rodney! Can't you do that later? I need your help here. Don't you think it's more important that we find a way for us to get home alive first?"

"…Of course I do," he said and reluctantly turned back to her and placed the camera atop of a cabinet.

Thoughtfully, Rodney asked, "Hey, shouldn't we eat some of the food we got from PX3-983? I'm really hungry and I have to eat continually or else I-"

"Rodney! Later, okay?"

"Fine, I'm just saying…" Rodney muttered and then sighed before going straight to business, "What have you got, Sam?"

"I…" Sam begun but suddenly the room started spinning. She felt herself losing her control and leaned back against the wall, "Oh, god…"

"What? Are you feeling alright?" Rodney asked worriedly, and when she didn't immediately respond he continued, "Sam? Is something wrong?"

"No! I'm fine!" Sam hissed, not wanting him to see her this weak. She couldn't admit to her pain yet, she needed to be the leader and not break down. If she did break down, Rodney wouldn't be able to lead them on and then they'd be stuck where they were indefinitely. "I'm just... feeling emotional."

Rodney cleared his throat and took a step back, "Oh, I see… Is it _that _time of the month? Maybe I should leave you alone. My brilliant intellect can handle a lot of things but women and PMS are not any of those things…"

"McKay!"

"Consider me as good as gone!"

Rodney turned around to leave the room but Sam shook her head and held out her hand towards him.

"Stay, McKay!" she said, her voice shaking slightly. "Help me with this."

Rodney stopped his movements and watched her a minute before nodding his head. Sam pushed away from the wall and walked over to the crystals, she waved him over and when he stood next to her, she showed him the exploded crystal.

"Oh, that's just bad," Rodney said, his eyes staring down at it. "I'm guessing there was an energy outlet to the crystal too?"

"Probably," Sam nodded slowly, trying not to make any sharp moments for her head's sake. "Have you taken a look at the radar? Is anything repairable?"

"Actually, I think I can fix it," Rodney answered, "The radio on the other hand is completely blown to pieces. I can repair the radar, though I don't have the proper tools so this could take weeks, if not months…"

"We're probably staying in space for that long either way, Rodney, so you should try," Sam said and saw how Rodney's head shot up in her direction.

"You're saying…"

"We don't know where we are, Rodney. As of now we should probably put our hope and trust to ourselves and what we can do, not what Earth or Alpha Site might be able to pull for us if we can contact them. We need to keep hope in ourselves at the moment," She looked at him solemnly and he nodded in understanding.

"What about the engine?" he asked after a minute.

"I haven't been down to check it out yet, I'd just begun checking the crystal."

"Which we need to find a spare to," Rodney pointed out. "Do you know where they keep the spare crystals on this thing?"

"No," Sam answered with a sigh. "We'll have to search everywhere."

"What about our oxygen supply? Is the oxygen tank still intact?"

"Yes," Sam nodded and turned to point at the oxygen meter on the wall near by, next to it was the heat meter. "It's undamaged, thankfully. And I checked the meter, it seems we've been stationary here about 24 hours from the small amount of oxygen we've lost, which means we've been in space about 5 days. And there's still plenty of oxygen left."

"And the heat?"

"Intact too, though it seems more fragile then the oxygen tank."

McKay nodded and turned around, he walked over to the cabinet with the camera and picked it up.

"We should record this," he said.

"Later," Sam consented.

"Hey, Sam…" Rodney said then, "I've been thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"This engine is run by an antimatter engine, right?"

"Yes."

"So we're powered by nuclear fission in the engine," Rodney said, hoping she would catch on to what he was saying. She didn't. Rodney continued,  
"A nuclear reactor fueled by antimatter emits gamma rays and when it explodes it generates a large field of electromagnetic radioactive radiation that is durable for days and is possible to be seen on a radar and scans. Because this ship is so big it emit's a very large quantity of gamma rays and therefore also, if there's an explosion, more radiation that would remain in space for a _long _while. It's possible that we're still emitting gamma rays of radiation that the SGC can trace with the help of the Asgard or other allies."

Sam thought about his words but ultimately shook her head, "It's a good thought, Rodney. But this ship isn't powered by a _nuclear_ reactor. Wanting to save energy and fuel we decided on a positron reactor instead. It's safer and emits lower levels of gamma rays then a nuclear reactor. The radiation transmitted from the explosions is long gone, with a positron reactor it isn't durable for a long while."

Rodney nodded his head slowly and Sam could see his hoping fading slightly at those news. Sam hated this as much as he did, but at least she had been through this before. She had felt equally hopeless then, but it had worked out in the end.  
_In the end I was able to go back to Jack…, I mean SGC, _Sam thought to herself, shaking her head from any thoughts of her CO. She hadn't given hope that time, and wasn't about to this time either. She would find a way to get home to Ja-… _the SGC_.

Sam shook her head and looked at McKay, "I'm gonna head down to the engines, could you check the heat meter for me?"

Rodney frowned, "I thought you said you already checked it?"

"I did?" Sam asked in confusion but couldn't quite remember.

"I'll check it anyway," Rodney said with a shrug and walked past the oxygen meter, but before he could touch the heat meter, the oxygen tank's vent suddenly exploded and flew half way cross the room. Rodney and Sam both turned to watch the oxygen tank, from which a vast amount of oxygen was spurting out.

"Shut that vent!" Sam called to Rodney and he quickly dove to the ground to pick the vent up and pushed it back in place, he fastened the screws once more and it stayed intact. The oxygen stopped leaking and Rodney looked at Sam, his breathing fast and irregular. Sam looked just as shocked as he felt.

"I swear, I didn't do that, Sam," Rodney breathed.

Sam nodded, "You're right, you didn't."

"Now, just wait a minute!" Rodney started, not having heard her response. "Stop jumping to conclusions, I-… what?"

"Pressure must have built up from the engine, I thought the heat tank would be affected first, obviously I was wrong… I have to get down to check the engines, see if I can relieve the pressure somewhat."

"Right," Rodney said and nodded absently, "I'll look for a spare crystal."

"Good. I'll see you on the bridge in one hour."

* * *

**A/N: And that's that chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed, leaving a review would be greatly appreciated! :).**

Anyway, only have one thing to point out about this: Sam definitely has a concussion and her reactions and her thought process is therefore slower. When she can't remember there at the end, it's because of the concussion. Most of you already guessed this, but I just wanted to make that clear!

_Next chapter: It's a short one actually, but SGC get the radar scans. And McKay find that Sam might not be as well as she tries to pretend..._


	5. Good News

_A/N: I know this is a short chapter, and I apologize for it. Thing is, it doesn't have to be longer. Not this time, but I promise that the rest are going to be longer! It might be short, but I still hope you like it!_

_As always, thank you, dear reviewers! You make my day! :)._

_makki - I think Rodney would be really scared if O'Neill found out what he called Sam... I'd actually like to see that :P. Grace? You know, I hadn't planned on it. I don't think she will actually... sorry._

_lkhoward - excellent guess! I won't say anything, but the item you mentioned will be important. ;)._

_scarletwitch0 - Thank you! I wasn't sure if I'd gotten the characters right, and my technobabble was... well, thanks for thinking it sounded right. (I thought so too) :).  
As for Jack's coping skills, I just think that's how he would react. So it's good to know I might be right on that. Oh, Rodney will be around a while longer. Sorry. ;)_

_sammie77 - Thank you very much!_

_gater62 - Really? Thank you! I wasn't sure how it was gonna come off... I hope it was accurate too. :)._

_mia66 - Thank you! I know McKay is a bit OOC, I think he'd notice a bit sooner if it was on the show, but... (shrug) And what will McKay do? Oh, you'll soon find out. They'll be in space... a while longer. That's all I can say without spoiling the coming chapters! I will try and make them longer, I promise! I wish I'd have done this longer, but in the end I'm happy with it. Next chapter though, is definitely longer!!_

_On with the chapter! Hope you guys like it!_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Good News**

When one hour was up, McKay found himself completely alone on the bridge. He frowned at the empty room and called out, "Sam?"

There was no response and Rodney frowned, he didn't think Sam was one to be late for anything, so where was she?

He glanced down at his hand, at the control crystal in it, and smiled to himself. He'd searched high and low on the ship and had eventually found what he'd been looking for, so at least they had that part safe.  
Looking around the bridge again, Rodney decided to wait for Sam. He walked over to the captain's chair and sat down. As the minutes clocked by, Rodney grew more and more impatient, and loosely fiddled with the crystal. Deciding that he needed something to do, he walked over to a cabinet and opened it, inside stood his precious camera, waiting to be used. He pulled it out and instead put the crystal in the cabinet, deciding it was probably safer there then in his restless hands. Returning to the captain's seat, he turned the camera on himself and started recording,

"This is McKay speaking. I have now located the hyperdrive spare crystal that we will be needing to get home. All we have to do now is repair the engine and generator, change the crystals and go home. It shouldn't be too hard. Nothing I can't fix. So, right now, I'm waiting for Sam on the bridge. She went down to the engine about one hour ago to see what she could do for it, we're supposed to have a meeting now… I guess she's late though. I will report more later, once she's come."

With that he turned off the camera and settled for waiting once more, after another ten minutes Rodney was beginning to get anxious. He put down the camera and stood from the chair.  
He quickly exited the bridge and headed through the corridor, towards the ladder that led down to the engine. He looked down through the hole, but couldn't make out much in the dark area below.

"Sam?" he called out, but once again, no answer sounded. He stood from the ground and turned to a cabinet, from which he took a flashlight out of. Returning to the ladder he turned the flashlight on and shone it down the ladder.  
He inhaled deeply and begun to descend the ladder, stepping onto the cold floor below, he pointed the flashlight down the area. The silence around him was deafening and McKay felt his heart fall a bit at the prospect that Sam hadn't been able to fix the engine yet. Not that he'd actually expected her to be able to fix everything in an hour, he'd just been hopeful.

"Sam?" he called out again and started walking down the pathway. As he turned a corner, something caught his eye in the shine of the light. He turned the flashlight straight ahead of him and it illuminated a still form on the ground. His eyes widened in fear and his heart started beating frantically.

"Sam!" he called out and rushed over to her.

* * *

"So, these are the scans?" Daniel asked as he watched the four photos in his hands. Across from him, Jack and Teal'c were looking at copies of the same four photos and at the head of the table Hammond was as well.

"It is," Hammond agreed with a curt nod.

Daniel glanced quickly at the general before looking down once more. The first photo was of a small ship in the big of space, there was nothing wrong with it. The second and third photos were of a sudden explosion, though the third photo had what appeared to be a smudge right next to the explosion. The fourth photo was void of any spaceship.

"What does this mean, general?" Daniel asked, throwing a cautious glance at Jack, who now seemed to have calmed down considerably.

"We're not entirely sure, Dr. Jackson. Though our best scientists are trying to figure it out as we speak."

"You do not still believe this to be a party trick, O'Neill?" Teal'c suddenly asked. Jack merely glanced in Teal'c's general direction before turning back to the photos, Jack knew Teal'c was just trying to get him to come to grips with his worry.  
Jack placed the four photos on the tabletop and lifted photo number 3 into his hands, studying it closely. 

With a frown he set it down on the table and placed the second one next to it.  
"Jack…?" Daniel asked slowly, wondering what the older man had thought of.

"How long time is it between these photos?" Jack asked distantly.

"About one minute between each photo, so three minutes between the first and fourth," Hammond responded.

"One minute…," Jack echoed silently and the others turned to watch him as his brow furrowed in concentration. "You know, I'm not the greatest scientist… but if there was just one explosion, shouldn't the force of it have been somewhat… less then what it is in picture 3?"

"O'Neill is correct. The blast does indeed seem equally large in photograph 2 and photograph 3. It should not be that way."

"Thanks, T."

"Yeah, I think you're on to something, Jack," Daniel said and frowned down at the smear on photo number three. "And… what is that smudge?"

"Is it not so that it could be a ship jumping into hyperspace?" Teal'c asked. Jack's head whipped up to exchange a hopeful look with Daniel.

"It might be, Teal'c," Daniel said with a slight nod of the head. "It might be."

"So… what are we thinking here?" Jack asked, his coffee brown eyes looking intently at picture three.

"Well… My guess is that there seems to have been two explosions onboard the Arcanum for an, as of yet, unknown reason. Right after the second explosions they must have been able to enter hyperspace and are hopefully alive and well somewhere. Hopefully. But, eh, that's just a guess," Daniel responded.  
"And that is exactly why we're going to wait for the scientists to answer this question," said Hammond. "With any luck, they'll say the same thing."

"Sir?" Jack asked and George turned to his 2IC. "Permission to contact Carter's dad?"

"Granted," Hammond said with a nod.

* * *

"Sam. Come on, Sam. Wake up," Rodney pleaded, but she didn't stir. He'd already checked her pulse and was relieved to know she was very much alive, though the fact that he couldn't wake her scared him. "It's time to wake up, Sam."

Finally she stirred, a low moan escaping past her lips before her blue eyes opened. Rodney saw that they were unfocused and anything but aware of his presence.

"Sam!" he called and her eyes turned to his, Rodney relaxed slightly as he saw the flash of recognition in them.

"Rodney?" she asked, her voice small. "What are you doing here?"

"We were supposed to meet on the bridge 30 minutes ago, Sam. You didn't come so I went to see if you'd forgotten the time and I found you unconscious."

"Oh," was her only response as she sat up slowly from the ground, taking in her surrounding as she did. Quickly she fell into science mood as she continued, "Well, I've got good news for you, Rodney. We can fix the engine. It's extensively damaged at places but nothing seems to have affected the core, we just need to repair the damages and then we're ready to go. I also managed to relieve pressure from the oxygen- and heat tanks, so we won't have to worry about any vents exploding on us again."

"Sam-," Rodney began, but she quickly cut him off.

"I'm fine, Rodney," her tone was sharp and it was clear she wasn't going to talk about it any further. Rodney sighed dejectedly.

"At least eat something," he tried and stood from the ground. Sam used the wall for support to draw herself up too and with a thoughtful look she finally nodded.

"I suppose I could go for some food,"

"Good, come on. I have lots to tell you," Rodney said and led the way back to the ladder. He climbed up and waited for her to do the same. As she stood beside him, she wobbled slightly but quickly regained her composure. Together they walked in silence to the mess hall.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" she asked as they entered and took a seat by the long, white table.

Rodney walked into the adjoining storage room and brought back two packs of food for them, before responding,  
"I found where they hid the spare crystals."

"That's great, Rodney," Sam said, a genuine smile upon her lips.

Rodney sat down next to her and handed her the pack, opening his own, he dug right in. With a frown he realised that it all tasted like chicken, which was not only a big disappointment, but also weird, because he was sure he'd taken something with fish in it. With a shrug, he kept eating, only half aware that Sam was mostly picking at her food.

"How long do you reckon it's going to take to fix the engine?" Rodney asked.

"Well, with both of us pitching in… a few days."

"That _is _good news. A few days more in this place I can handle," Rodney said with a grin.

"Yeah. But you'd better get working on the radar as soon as possible, McKay," Sam pointed out.

"I will, as soon as we're done here. I'm going to try and reroute the radar to another screen and set up operations for it there," he explained quickly, his voice accelerating in speed as his mood brightened. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"That's good, McKay," Sam responded. "Let's keep the crystal in a safe place before exchanging it though. We won't need it until we get the engine ready."

"What about the generator?" Rodney asked, taking a mouthful of his food.

She frowned at him, seemingly trying to process what he was talking about. Rodney could see how slow her thought process was but he refrained from commenting on it.

"Oh," she said finally as realization dawned on her. "Their was only minor damages on the generator, I think I can fix it."

"Also, good news," Rodney pointed out and looked down at his now empty plate. "So, I guess we get to work then, huh?"

"Yes, lets."

Sam stood from the table and Rodney followed her example. He glanced down at her plate and noticed that most of her food was intact.

"Aren't you…?" he began but quickly thought otherwise of it, not wanting to face the wrath of Samantha Carter. "Never mind. I'll just throw our food away, you go back to work. But be careful."

"Don't worry, Rodney. I'll live."

* * *

_Next chapter: Starts 5 days after this chapter. Good ol' Jacob comes to town, and Jack greets him. Sam and McKay come up with, what might be, a plan to get home. But will it work, and what exactly is the plan? _


	6. The Plan

_A/N: And Chapter 6, in which Rodney and Sam form a plan!  
I'm honestly not sure if you guys will understand the plan, I hope you do. It's not too complicated, though… it's also not the brightest of plans.  
I hope it's not too weird though._

_Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! :)._

_makki – Thank you! I hope the plan works too! _

_lkhoward88 – Thank you! :D_

_dp – Thank you very much!_

_Kelly Moreland – Wow, really? You think so? Aw, that's sweet of you. I hope you like this part too._

_Cecilia Friesen – I agree, I've always found those episodes some of the greatest. They really should get together, I really hope Continuum offers us some insight into their awesome relationship._

_HAZMOT – Her headinjury did become worse in the last chapter. I think, if it had been real, that she would have gotten worse by now… And well, even if Sam finds herself unable to get home, you just know that Jack won't give up trying to bring her home. You know, when McKay was on Stargate SG-1 I hated him most of the time. But on Atlantis, he's one of my favorites. I'm glad that he's evolved for the better._

_Scarletwitch0 – hehe, I feel kind of blonde for not noticing that error I made about injuried/damaged. But thanks for letting me know, I went back and edited it as soon as I saw your reply! I love Jacob too, that guy was always great on SG-1. I miss him too, though his last episode truly was great and he got an honorable exit (if not a bit too __swift)._

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Plan**

Jack put his hands in his pockets and shifted from one foot to the other impatiently as he waited for the Gate's swirl to settle down so that travelers could pass through it. As it settled, Jack looked up and waited for a certain someone to step through the wormhole. Not a minute later, Jacob Carter stepped through. The older man's face seemed worn with worry and mild distress, when his eyes connected with Jack's, Jack nodded his head. The wormhole disengaged behind Jacob as the older man stepped down the ramp to stop in front of Jack.

"Jack," Jacob greeted, not bothering with military pleasantries.

"Jacob," Jack responded with another nod. "Great to see you again, too bad it's not under better circumstances."

"Yes, well, I must say that I agree. There are some awkwardness between the Tok'ra at this time and they were reluctant to let me leave. But of course I had to come."

"Of course," Jack said and turned to the blast door.

As both men walked out the Gateroom, Jacob turned to Jack and asked, "So… How is she?"

Jack visibly winced and seemed to stiffen just the slightest but any other reaction the colonel managed to keep at bay, "We don't know, Jacob. We still haven't heard anything from her. Our scientists have taken a look at the scans from Alpha Site and they say the same thing we do."

"Which is?"

"That their were two explosions aboard the ship but it managed to jump into hyperspace."

"Then she's probably safe somewhere?"

"Probably," Jack agreed. "But the Arcanum can't be functioning, if it was.. Well, then they wouldn't still be out there, you know."

Jacob sighed audibly and Jack glanced over at the older man. Jack could clearly see Jacob's fatherly pain and fear about this and could only imagine what pain Jacob was really going through.

_Actually, _he mentally reminded himself. _You do know how Jacob's feeling…  
_  
A mental image of Charlie popped into his mind but he quickly repressed it, not feeling ready to battle those emotions as well. He had enough emotional pain to work with here, with Carter lost in space again. And this was nothing like Jacob's fear and fatherly love. No, Jack's fear for Carter was definitely not _fatherly_ love.

Jack was drawn back to the present as he felt Jacob's eyes on him. Jack raised an eyebrow but Jacob didn't turn away or comment about it.

Finally Jacob asked, "How long has she been out there now?"

"Ten days. But who's counting, right?" Jack asked, turning to his usual wit.

Jacob suddenly stopped in the middle of the corridor, it took Jack a few seconds to realize this since he hadn't been prepared for that. When Jacob's action did catch up to him, Jack stopped as well and turned back to the Tok'ra.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Jacob asked.

"What?" Jack asked, surprised at the question.

"Not knowing if she's safe. Not being able to help her," Jacob said and Jack met his gaze. An understanding passed between the two men and Jack slowly nodded.

"It does."

"That's how I feel too, Jack. Though… I suspect it's not exactly the same."

Jack was surprised at how the older man had seemed to think what Jack was thinking just a minute earlier, but decided not to comment on it. Instead he nodded once.

"Come on," Jack said and held out his hand to indicate for them to continue. "Let's go see general Hammond. Maybe he can give us something new to go on."

* * *

"This is it?"

Sam turned back to look at Rodney where she sat behind the control panel. She nodded her head and answered his question, "This is it."

She turned forwards and took a deep breath. They'd worked on the engine and generator for 5 tiring days and had now finally managed to repair most of the damages. Rodney had also been able to connect the radar to another screen, and hopefully it would work when they turned on the power. Sam felt Rodney's gaze on the back of her head and knew he was worried about her. Since her _brief _fainting five days ago he'd kept a close check on her. The days had been tiresome and there had been more then one occasion when she'd expected to faint herself, but thankfully she hadn't.

_At least not in front of him_, she reminded herself. Truth was, she actually had passed out once more while working on the engine. Thankfully, Rodney hadn't been there to see it, or she'd probably never hear the end of it. Sam had actually been able to focus more these last few days, something which had made it easier to pretend to be alright in front of Rodney. Eventually he had seemed to be convinced that she really was alright, and left her alone.  
Well, as alone as one can be when on a spaceship with Rodney McKay. She was definitely relieved when he had backed off, having him as her tail for the first three days had been anything but fun.

The only thing she was sure that he was suspicious about was the fact that she wasn't eating much, she just couldn't find it in herself to finish her portions. She knew her concussion was affecting her and that she should eat more then she did, but she just couldn't. Rodney actually had commented on that once, something which he surely was regretting by now since she'd basically ignored him for twenty-four hours afterwards. Actually, he'd seemed so relieved to have her on speaking terms again that he'd given her even more leeway lately.

"Well?" Rodney asked impatiently, pulling Sam from her thoughts. "Are you going to turn it on?"

"Right," Sam said. She pushed the necessary buttons and grinned widely as the engines started humming from below and all the panels went online. She swiftly checked all the necessary controls, turned back to Rodney and nodded her head. Rodney smiled and turned to the new radar screen. Sam waited on baited breath for him to report.

"What the…" was Rodney's first and only words.

"What?" Sam asked, quickly standing up from her chair. "What is it? Isn't it working?"

"No, it is," Rodney assured. "But we have another problem."

Sam walked over to him and looked down as well. The screen showed several stars and everything seemed to be functioning. Then she realized what he meant, the radar was working but there was no ship on it. _The Arcanum wasn't visible on the screen._

"How can we _not _be visible?" Rodney asked. "I mean, we should be."

"Well, remember that you hit the cloaking device button? It must have overloaded."

"So, we _are _cloaked?"

"I don't think so. We still would have been able to see ourselves on the screen."

"… We're invisible?"

"It's a possibility," Sam said with a shrug.

"Come on… we aren't cloaked but we're still invisible? How's that possible?"

"Well, it's possible. I remember one mission we went on which left colonel O'Neill invisible because he ha stood too close to the engine room as the ship's cloaking device was engaged."

"Oh, come on!" Rodney said exasperatedly and stepped back. "We're invisible, but without being cloaked. How are we supposed to restore ourselves?"

"Well, we managed to restore the colonel. I think I can fix this," Sam said.

"Perhaps. But that's just if it actually is that way. What if we're not invisible but just… invisible _on radar_?" Rodney asked. "I think it's a possibility that we are visible for the naked eye to see, but I don't think our ship is going to appear on anyone's radar or scans."

"…You thinking we might be out of phase?"

"I don't know, Sam," Rodney said with and exasperated sigh. "It could be just about anything. We should work on fixing it though."

"Whatever happened it seems the explosion ruptured the cloaking device. And apart from our invisibility on radar it seems everything else is operational."

"So, we can create a subspace field, enter hyperspace and go home?" Rodney asked, but then shook his head. "That probably won't help us too much… considering the fact that we don't know where we came from or for how long we drove. Right, any ideas what to do next? We could really use some help, if the radio was functioning we could send out a signal. The Arcanum would work as our antenna but we'd still need a receiving antenna, and, well, we don´t want a frequency to end up in the hands of the Goa'uld, do we?"

"No, Rodney," Sam agreed. "But we should send out a distress beacon. It's procedure when these things happen and now, with the engine online, we can."

Rodney nodded and picked up his camera where it lay on top of the control panel, he looked down at it and a thought crossed his mind. Instantly, he whipped around to Sam who'd just sat down behind the main control panel.

"What if we send a McKay-message through space?"

Sam looked up at him, her eyes heavy with thought. "I suppose we could. But we still need a powerful antenna to receive our transmissions."

"Oh…" Rodney said, his smile effectively wiped from his face. "Right."

"Wait a minute," Sam said. "We need a powerful antenna, capable of receiving radio frequencies from a very long distance."

"Yeah…" Rodney said slowly, very much aware that she had practically repeated her own words. "…Got one in mind?"

"_The Stargate_," Sam answered immediately. "The Stargate on Earth would be powerful enough to at least use as an antenna which we can lead our frequency through."

"Eh, Sam," Rodney began, his voice doubtful. "That's a terrible idea, I thought you had a brain in there? Listen, Samantha, even if we send frequencies into space now, it would take _years _before it reached Earth. And what about the hearability problem?"

Sam tried to remember what he was talking about, but her brain just wouldn't connect to what he was trying to say, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, if two transmitters send a transmission simultaneously to a joint receiver, the transmitter closest to the receiver will get his message through. And if the signal that is closer is way more powerful, like let's say… oh, I don't know, an incoming wormhole, then the second signal, if only being a video frequency, wouldn't go through to the receiver."

"Yeah... I know," Sam said with a nod. "It is a chance this might not work. But what other options do we have? We can't just drive off randomly, Rodney. At least this way, we might get an idea as to where home is."

"Okay, this is thoughtless," Rodney pointed out. "We can't just send out a signal and wait, we'd be dead here long before the signal reaches Earth, _if _it reaches Earth. Unless… Wait, I got it! Oh, I am _brilliant_!"

"What, Rodney?"

"We create a subspacefield and send the frequency through the field straight to Earth! Let me do some calculations on how long that might take, but that would mean that the time for the transmission to reach Earth will decrease from _years _to _hours_."

"That… actually is brilliant," Sam said, though grimacing at the smug look that appeared on Rodney's face. "But if we create a subspace field we'll only be able to transmit in one direction at a time. And we have no idea where Earth is, we'd have to try several directions… it is a possibility that we might not connect with Earth at all if we use a subspacefield."

"It's a chance it might work though, right?" Rodney asked eagerly. "Look, I'll work on the subspacefield and figure out the mathematical part of it. You work on finding a way for us to actually connect the transmission with the Gate."

"Well, I know the code for the Gate. Being able to override security for that won't be hard,. We just need to be able to connect to it and then I can… I can hook up the transmission to go straight for the main computer in the control room," Sam said and hopped out of her chair to head for the computer, ready to get working.  


* * *

"Are we done?" Rodney asked, 18 hours later. They'd worked hard as hell, barely without any breaks, and hopefully this plan would work. Just a little while ago they'd sent out their distress beacon, in case their plan wouldn't work.

"We're done," Sam replied as she sat down behind the panel again. "How long time did you say it would take for the transmission to reach Earth?"

"4 hours, hopefully, give or take. And while we're transmitting we can't try any other directions. We'll have to do this systematically, one transmission at a time," McKay said as he plugged the camera into the computer behind her.

"Good. I also programmed it so that it will only show the video message if it reaches the computer on SGC. So if it ends up in enemy hands, they won't even know it," Sam said, leaning back against the seat. 18 hours of work was wearing on her, especially with her head injury to only worsen it.

Rodney nodded and pushed several keys, prepared to send the message. His hand hovered in the air as he turned back to Sam, "Are we sure everything's done?"

Sam nodded confidently, "Yes. And also, because we have to wait four hours before we get any answers, I rerouted the red light on the panel that used to be connected to the cloaking device."

"You mean the one that blinked so furiously when I…?" Rodney asked, not finishing his sentence but letting the rest hang in the air.

"That's the one. If the transmission reaches Earth, the light will turn on, and we can follow the transmission."

Rodney nodded slowly, "Well then, I guess everything is in order. Let's get this show on the road!"

With those final words, Rodney pressed the last keys on the keyboard. Through the large window on the bridge, Sam and Rodney saw how a subspacefield opened up before them.

"Transmitting," Rodney said as he begun the transmission process, and walked back to the captain's seat.

"I guess, now we wait," Sam said, her eyes focused on the little lamp atop of the control panel.

* * *

_A/N: Anyone_ _else notice the "200"-spoilers in there? I love that episode! Anyway, I hope you liked it. Hope it's not too much technobabble. It is fun to write, but still a hell of a lot harder when you're not one of the worlds two greatest astrophysicists._

_I really enjoyed writing the Jack/Jacob part of this chapter, and I hoped that's visible. This is also not the last we've seen of Jacob in this story...:)._

_Next chapter: Will Sam's and Rodney's efforts pay off? Will the message reach Stargate Command? I guess you can figure out the answer to that one… But then, what's Jack going to do about it?_


	7. The Message

_A/N: And here comes chapter 7 in which Sam finds her hope dwindling and SGC get a surprise._

_I had fun writing this and trying to delve a little deeper into Sam's mind, we're gonna delve a little deeper into Jack's mind in time as well. That's probably gonna be even more fun to write. :P._

_As always, you reviewers rock my socks!_

_HAZMOT - First of all: Thank you for your review! I'm a bit worried about Sam too, I mean... she's not doing a lot of good things to have the concussion improve, now is she? And Jack and Jacob, I think, do have a good chemistry on screen. I really do think they'd be able to bond over something like this._

_makki - Thank you! I always thought Jacob knew more then he let on, he pretty much admitted as much in 'Threads'. Whether or not SGC gets the transmission will be answered in this chapter. ;). And I hope you like this chapter too! :)._

_dp - Thank you very much!_

_Cecilia Friesen - Thank you:)._

_csl - Thank you! _

_And, without further ado, here's chapter 7! Hope you like!_

* * *

**_Chapter 7: The Message_**

Sam exhaled heavily. She'd recently escaped from the bridge to get some privacy and ended up in one of the control rooms, where she'd sat down on the floor against the wall. It had been three days now of constant trying to get the video transmission to reach Earth, but so far they'd been unsuccessful.  
She and Rodney had tried… 20-21 different directions by now (Sam wasn't sure about the exact number).  
And nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. _Not a thing_.  
All this waiting and constant hoping that their plan was going to work was beginning to take its toll on her. She was tired. Tired of hoping that they'd connect to Earth. Tired from her concussion, which still, thirteen days after acquiring it, was slowing her down. She was tired, plain and simply, of their situation.

She exhaled again and leaned her head back against the wall. _God, I hate this!_

Maybe she wouldn't think this was so hard if it wasn't for the fact that she'd already done this once before.  
Last time she'd only been in space 4 days, but that had definitely been enough. Also, last time she'd had hallucinations to help her on the way and to keep her company in a way, here she only had Rodney, and he was starting to get on her last nerves. A part of her wondered if she wouldn't have been able to handle this second time if he just hadn't been with her. His self-loving attitude wasn't endurable in any way, and to have him so up close, with no real means of hiding from him, she wondered if that hadn't been enough of a punishment.  
Did the universe really have to get them stuck together as well?  
And even though they'd been through hell to get where they were, Rodney still managed to keep faith. How, Sam wasn't sure. She sure as hell was losing hers, and wasn't sure how to regain it.  
She'd tried occupying herself earlier with fixing whatever minor damages on the engine she could find, she'd actually managed to find out that they weren't invisible, as she'd first suspected.  
There had been nothing wrong with the engine on that part. In theory, there shouldn't be any problem with the cloaking device at all. But in practice, there was. And she had no idea why.  
This, of course, only helped her hope escape from her, and she didn't have the strength to get it to stay. Rodney had been mildly thrilled by this, for he thought it confirmed his own idea of them only being invisible on the radar and she'd had to listen to three full hours of gloating from the man before she'd been able to slip away.

She couldn't believe that Rodney McKay would be the last person to see her alive. If she had a second chance to go on this mission she'd have made damn sure that Rodney wouldn't be going too. No, she'd insist that the colonel accompany her instead, and she'd make sure that he came with her. Sam smiled to herself as memories of Jack came to her, she really wished he was there with her. He'd have found a way to keep her hopes up and not let her feel down, he'd be able to comfort her.

_No, Sam_, she thought. _I thought you were supposed to get over him_.

Aboard the Prometheus she and the hallucinated version of him had talked about their relationship and she knew that they couldn't be together in any near future. Both of them loved their jobs too much and neither would ask the other to quit, they were practically at a standstill. After she'd gotten home from the Prometheus, she'd promised herself to try and find happiness someplace else, she couldn't spend the rest of her life waiting for something that might never happened.

Though, as it turned out, she was finding this harder then she thought. Seeing him everyday, his smile, his jokes, the glint in his eyes… it all made it so hard to move on. She'd talked to Janet about it during one of their girl-nights but Janet seemed to think that she should wait for the colonel. Sam had told Janet at the time that she'd disagreed with the doctor, but knew that deep inside, she couldn't agree more. Heaving another sigh, she lowered her head as more memories of her friends flooded her mind.

_Jack. Janet. Daniel. Teal'c. Dad. General Hammond._  
All treasured friends that she missed more then ever. She missed Daniel's frenzy for coffee, Teal'c's "Indeed", Janet's friendship, Hammond's subtle worry for his teams, her dad's stubbornness and just plain simply she missed Jack. If she'd only had a second chance at making this decision…

_Eh_, Sam thought, _who are you kidding here?_

She wasn't getting a second chance, no matter how much she wished it. She was stuck where she was. Nothing more, nothing less, and there wasn't really much she could do with thinking of different scenarios that might have been better. The only thing that could change their situation was if the red lamp turned on…  
If it didn't, she'd be stuck here indefinitely, or for as long as the oxygen lasted. Tears sprang to her eyes at the realization that she truly might never see any of her friends again.

Furiously she wiped at the corners of her eyes, not allowing herself to feel that emotional pain. Though the tears stopped, the pain didn't. It was still there, and it was almost more unbearable then the pain of the concussion.

Impatiently she started tapping her fingers against the floor, she really hated all this waiting. All this was really putting a lot of strain on her but she wasn't close to giving up. She just didn't have the power to keep fighting. Suddenly a low whistle echoed from the corridor outside and soon Rodney stood in the door-opening, a carton of food in his hand.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Brooding," Sam mumbled back, not bothering to look up at him.

"Well, you shouldn't," Rodney said. "Come on, give me some company on the bridge. Attempt number 22 is almost done, the 4 hours are almost up. Who knows, maybe we've been lucky on this one."

"Maybe…" Sam muttered as she stood from the ground on wobbly legs. She managed to suppress the urge to lean back to steady herself and Rodney didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't point it out. With slow steps she walked out of the room and followed Rodney who led the way to the bridge.

Her blue eyes automatically sought out the red lamp on the control panel. _No light_. Sam sighed and walked over to her usual chair, as she slumped down into it, Rodney sat down in the captain's seat next to her.  
Rodney opened his mouth as if to say something, but Sam really wasn't in the mood to talk, about anything really. Thankfully, she didn't have to listen to another one of his scientific rambles, for just then the lamp turned on. The red light shone to them through their darkened hope, and Sam smiled widely.  
The video message had finally reached Earth.

* * *

Back in Stargate Command, Walter Harriman was in for the surprise of a lifetime. He'd been sitting idly in front of his computer when suddenly the seven chevrons on the gate shone with their orange glow. Looking at his computer he frowned, there was no one trying to contact them, but just as suddenly a wormhole swooshed into place.  
Walter's eyes were wide as he looked from the computer to the gate, there hadn't been anyone dialing their gate, if there had been, the computer would have notified him. The usual alarm sounded across the base, a loud voice announcing over the intercom, "Uscheduled off-world activation!"

Quickly, Walter reached for the phone and called general Hammond. Not a minute after having done so, the general sped into the control room.

"Talk to me, sergeant," the General requested and Walter quickly begun explaining what was going on.

"I have no idea what is happening, sir. The seven chevrons just started shining simultaneously for no apparent reason, sir, and the wormhole engaged without anyone contacting us. There's been no IDC-code transmitted or anything."

Hammond nodded, "Close the iris, sergeant."

"Yes, sir," Walter responded and did as told. The steel iris closed, but the chevrons remained glowing and the wormhole didn't disengage.

"What the hell is going on?" Hammond asked, his usual Texas-drawl low and perplexed. "Try and figure this out, sergeant."

"Something wrong with the gate, General?" Jack asked as he swiftly walked up the staircase, Daniel and Teal'c close on his heels. George turned to Jack and shook his head.

"I don't know, colonel," Hammond said and then proceeded to explain the events to them.

Daniel, after hearing the explanation, took a step forward and watched the gate with a thoughtful look, "Well, that's not normal."

"Ya think?" Jack responded sarcastically, earning him a mildly annoyed look from Daniel.

"Whoa!" Walter suddenly proclaimed as his computer went black. For a few seconds they all stood silently, watching the black screen. Suddenly, the computer turned on again, but not to what they were expecting.

"Greetings, Earthlings," McKay spoke from the screen, a wide grin on his face.

"What the-?" Jack began.

"It seems to be a video message from doctor McKay," Teal'c pointed out.

"Make sure you save this, sergeant," Hammond ordered but Walter was already ahead of him.

"Done, sir," Harriman said, almost drowning out Rodney's words.

"Sch!" Daniel hushed and the others fell silent, watching the tape.

"This is our second day aboard the Arcanum and all is going off without a hitch. We haven't run into any problems so far, though Sam insists on checking the systems three times daily. That's all I have to report at this moment. Expect more soon. McKay out."

Suddenly the image changed, though it was again McKay. Several short clips followed of him discussing the ship's status, not reporting anything wrong with it. Suddenly there was a short clip of Sam, and everyone in the control room heard Jack's sharp intake of air.

"Want to tell the camera what you're working on?" could be heard in the background. Sam turned slowly to the camera to glare at it, and that was the end of that clip. Following this one was a sombre clip with McKay, and everyone edged closer to listen to his words.

"Day 5 aboard the Arcanum. Well, what can I say? We've had an accident. There were two explosions aboard the ship before we entered hyperspace, I was knocked out from the blasts. When I woke up, I heard Sam calling my name. We're stationary in space now. The engines aren't functional, they were damaged in the explosions. This has led to the ship slowly circulating its own axle, so we have no way of knowing where we came from. But worst of all… I broke my pinkie! Well, I almost broke my pinkie at least!" at this McKay held up his bandaged hand. "I suppose we were lucky we didn't get more injured. Sam was apparently knocked out in the explosion too, though she doesn't have any broken pinkies. I have to go, I don't know much about what has happened but as soon as I do, I'll make another McKay-message."

Following this was another clip of McKay, this time with another smile on his face. "This is McKay speaking. I have now located the hyperdrive spare crystal that we will be needing to get home, since the original one exploded. All we have to do now is repair the engine and generator, change the crystals and go home.  
It shouldn't be too hard. Nothing I can't fix. Eh, so, right now, I'm waiting for Sam on the bridge. She went down to the engine about one hour ago to see what she could do with it, we're supposed to have a meeting now… I guess she's running late though. I'll report more later, after we've talked."

Then followed a new clip, not surprisingly, of McKay.

"Day 10 in the final frontier," he began. "We, mostly me, have been able to restore the engines and the generator. The crystal I found earlier isn't being of much help at the moment, seeing as we can't use it, because we have no idea of knowing where we came from.  
Things are finally starting to look up for us. We have together found a way that might make it possibly for us to send a signal back home to Stargate Command, if it succeeds we will hopefully be able to follow it and we'll be home before you know it. The basics of the plan is this; we open up a subspacefield and send a video transmission through to the Stargate on Earth, Sam said she found a way to program it so that it would play on the main computer on the base.  
Hopefully, this will work. If you receive this, we will know. And if we know, you can soon expect another video transmission from us. If you don't get another transmission… Well, it was nice knowing you. McKay out."

Finally the screen went black all together, and no more video clips appeared. Everyone turned to watch the gate as it disengaged, leaving the room silent. A few seconds later the computer turned back on and was soon back to normal, Walter immediately checked everything and confirmed to general Hammond that the message had indeed been saved.

"What… was that?" Daniel asked slowly.

"I believe we have already established that it was a video message from doctor McKay, Daniel Jackson."

"No, no… I didn't mean it like that, Teal'c. I mean, why did we get the message?"

"I believe he answered that too, Daniel," Jack pointed out. "Something about a subspacefield and what not…"

"At least we know they're still alive," Hammond said, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"I have one question, general Hammond," Teal'c said.

"Go on, Teal'c."

"I wonder myself why major Carter was not in the video message besides from her one brief clip."

"Oh, you know Carter, T," Jack began, pushing back his own concerns for that very question. "She's probably found some… doohickey to play with."

Teal'c seemed to ponder this for a moment, raising one of his eyebrows, before he inclined his head, "Indeed. I believe you to be correct, O'Neill. I should have come to the same conclusion."

"Ah, well… maybe next time," Jack said, and gave Teal'c's shoulder a pat.

"So, eh, what do we do now?" Daniel asked.

Before Hammond could answer, Jack turned to the general, "Permission to seek out Jacob Carter and ask him to search for Carter, sir?"

Hammond merely nodded and Jack hurried from the control room.

* * *

"Jack?" Jacob asked as the older, retired general was beamed to the surface of the Tok'ra planet which now served as the Tok'ra's secret base. Jack looked up and waved his hand at Jacob."What's the emergency?" Jacob asked with a mild frown.

"Well, Jacob, we got a video message from McKay and Carter earlier," Jack began, taking off his cap and looking straight at Jacob. "Leave it to your girl to figure out a way to bypass SGC security."

Jack's grin was contagious and Jacob smiled back, "I assume my daughter is unharmed then."

Jack's smile immediately faded as he said, "Well, technically, I don't know. McKay never said how serious her injuries were, but said that she was knocked out in the explosions, right before they entered hyperspace."

"But she's alive?"

"That she is, Jacob... And she doesn't have any broken pinkies either."

Jacob frowned slightly, "How would you…?"

"McKay," was Jack's offered explanation and Jacob nodded.

Letting relief wash over him, Jacob closed his eyes and his smile returned. "Thank god she's alive."

"No, thank your daughter," Jack smiled back, and then added as an afterthought. "And McKay."

Jacob opened his eyes and looked up at Jack, "Are you just trying to be a nice guy and telling me this or did you actually come for something else?"

"I came to ask you a favour, Jacob," Jack began. "And I hope the Tok'ra will agree."

"What do you want, Jack?"

"I want you to take your big, honkin' radars and scan for the Arcanum."

"No problem, Jack. I'll contact every ship we have out there, we'll find her."

"Well then. There's not much more I can do here, I'll return to Earth and tell general Hammond of your help. Nice to see you again, Jacob," Jack said and turned around to head back for the Stargate.

"Hey, Jack?"

Jack turned back to the older man and raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

"Thanks. For telling me personally."

"Anytime, Jacob. Anytime. You just make sure you have some good news to give me later, you owe me that now."

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked it, and it was, at least, a little bit longer than the previous chapter!_

_Next chapter: Well, I wish I could tell you much, but I'm still debating myself about some things. But what I can give away, though, is that things aren't always as easy as they seem..._


	8. From Bad to Worse

_A/N: And here's chapter 8! I hope you'll like it. I just want to mention that I'm sorry for not thinking this through entirely, when I began I thought I had most of the details planned but the further I go the more I realise that... well, I'm missing details that could explain a lot. So, I hope you won't ask too many questions concerning the Arcanum's position in space etc...  
And, I know this isn't the best ever written, I can do better. It's just... I don't know, it doesn't seem to be happening here. Ah, well, at least I'm trying, and I hope you like my attempts at a decent fic at least._

_As always, a BIG thank you to all my reviewers! You are so kind to me and it warms my heart every time. :)._

_HAZMOT - I like your little analyzis of the last chapter, you seem to understand what I'm trying to say and the things I'm kind of trying to portray between the lines. :). I do think Sam is losing some of her focus, she's definitely not getting too much hope out of things, and she does need to try and think of Jack and the others back home. I hope she keeps it up, but hey, who knows, right? ;)._

_makki - at the edge of your seat? oh, thank you! I'm not sure I've ever managed that before. And no Pete! Pete-less. UnPetefied. Sorry, got carried away there. It just sounded so good to say :P._

_dp - Thank you so very much! I know there are a lot of unanswered questions, hopefully I'll be able to answer them on as the story progresses. :). At least, I can admit, the three questions you asked will be answered. _

_scarletwitch0 - I loved writing the Jack/Jacob-dialogue. Oh, nuts, lemon! I forgot the citrus! Darnit... I knew I forgot something. _

_Allie108 - Oh, thank you! You got the technobabble? Wow, that feels kind of good, because I'm not sure if I do at times. ;). But I think you're right, I think the show really has taught you some things. Well, you know McKay is... well, McKay, I guess. But in this chapter he kind of shows a softer side, cause he has that in him as well. _

_Cecilia Friesen - More then flirting? Well... that all depends on wheter or not they get any more interaction... ;)_

_ALIMOO1971 - I know McKay didn't mention them being cloaked, which is weird in a way. He does attempt to get that message across here though, but he doesn't quite get a chance to mention it on time before... well, you'll have to read to find that out. :P. Ah, the Asgard, you know, the original idea was actually that Jack went to Thor for help and not to Jacob. But that got scrapped, though the Asgard's involvement in this will be mentioned in the next chapter. _

_BettyHall223 - Thank you very much! I hope you like this as well!_

* * *

**Chapter 8: From Bad to Worse**

Sam steadied herself against the wall as she walked back towards the control room, Rodney walking by her side. She saw him glance at her from the corner of her eyes, but was thankful when he made no comment about it, or so she thought…

"Maybe we should take a break. I mean, it doesn't seem like we have much to worry about now. We just have to make sure the crystal is fine and then we jump into hyperspace and before you know it, we're home," Rodney suggested.

"Nah, let's just do this. I'll rest later," Sam said, knowing full well that Rodney hadn't suggested it so that he could rest himself.

"At least eat something before we do this, I don't think I've seen you eat anything for a couple of days. You have a concussion, you obviously need to eat."

"No, McKay, I need to get home."

"Oh, so we're back on last-name basis, are we? …That's not good, is it?" Rodney asked, painfully reminded of when Sam had ignored him for about a day last time she'd been pissed with him.

"_McKay_!"

"Definitely not good," he muttered to himself and decided to remain silent the remainder of their walk. They stopped outside the control room and the doors opened for them, Sam stepped in first and Rodney waited a few feet behind her as she opened the compartment for the crystals.

Sam looked down at the crystals and after a few moments let out a tired groan. McKay, worried that she was going to faint, hurried forward. Sam shook her head slowly from side to side, while looking down at the crystals, "I don't believe it…"

"What?" Rodney asked, still watchful in case she'd unsuspectingly fall.

"It's the crystal…," she offered as an explanation and Rodney immediately flew forwards to look down as well. The hyperdrive crystal in question seemed to be in one piece and Rodney breathed out, relieved. That was, until Sam pulled out the crystal to better check it out and he could clearly see cracks in the surface of it.

"Oh no…," he whispered and Sam nodded in agreement. Desperately, Rodney suggested, "Maybe it could still last a jump…?"

Sam shook her head, "I doubt it. I think it must have been broken before, Rodney, it could handle just opening a subspacefield, but I doubt it can hold much longer if we move the ship into hyperspace."

"How long do you think it can last, if we do jump into hyperspace, without breaking?"

Sam thought about it, while surveying the damages further, "One hour. Maybe two."

Now it was Rodney's time to groan, "And we need four, at least."

"Yeah, I don't think I can fix this. And this is our spare… which means we're not going to get another chance without it."

"So… what do we do?"

"My suggestion is that we go in the direction that we sent the transmission as fast as we can without hyperspace, and hope that we can minimize the distance from four hours of hyperspace journeying to less then two. And then attempt the jump."

"How long would we have to drive for that?"

"Well, McKay…," Sam bit her bottom lip. "A few days, at minimum. Probably closer to a week though."

"_A week_?"

"Yeah, it's not going to go too quickly without the hyperdrive," Sam shrugged. "But what else can we do?"

"Nothing, I guess," Rodney admitted, feeling defeated. "I suppose I should make sure that Earth gets another transmission. Maybe they can figure out a way to help us somehow."

* * *

Jack walked down the stairs from the briefing room into the control room and sat down next to Walter.

"The video transmission is ready for you," Walter said and pointed to the computer in front of Jack. Jack nodded his head and turned to the computer, where Jacob's impassive face was looking back at him.

"Jacob," Jack said. "It's just been a few hours since we last talked, you already done with the scanning?"

Jacob nodded grimly, "Yes, Jack. I'm afraid it's not looking too good. We contacted every one of our ships and none of them could find anything. I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack felt his heart fall in his chest but fought to keep his face void of emotion. He nodded slowly to the older man and said, "I know, Jacob. You did what you could."

"I feel useless though," Jacob admitted, and Jack knew it took a lot from the man to do so.

"I know," Jack repeated. "Me too."

"This doesn't mean we'll stop trying though," Jacob said determinately. "Keep me posted, Jack."

"Will do, Jacob. Will do," Jack promised and with that, Jacob's face disappeared from the screen in front of him.

Jack stared at the screen a second longer to give himself time to collect his thoughts.  
If they couldn't find the Arcanum anywhere in space, it meant that the ship had to come to them. He had no way of going out there and helping her, because he simply had no idea where she was. He'd hoped that the Tok'ra could help him and now when they hadn't, he felt his iron wall crack slightly inside of him.  
He was painfully aware that no one had been able to crack his wall since Charlie's death, not until Sam had entered his life...  
With a pained sigh, Jack stood from the chair and walked out of the room to seek solitude elsewhere.

* * *

With a frustrated frown, Rodney stared down at the camera in his hand. The battery was dead.  
This meant that they only had one camera left, only one battery left, before they'd be unable to send more messages to Earth. This also meant that they had to be careful with what they recorded, they couldn't waste too much time on pointless musings.  
He placed the camera down on his bed and opened his bag to retrieve the second camera and, without further ado, he walked out of his room to head back for the bridge.

When entering the bridge he saw Sam working hard on something in the rear regions of the room."What are you doing?"

"Running a few simulations. Trying to find another solution," she offered briefly without turning back to him.

Rodney took a few seconds to inspect her pose and saw that she was leaning heavily on a panel, her knuckles white from the pressure and Rodney frowned.

"Are you okay?" he asked cautiously, knowing he was threading a thin line.

"I'm just having a bit of a headache, McKay. I'll be fine. Promise," she retorted, still with her back to him.

"Okay then… I'll just record a message for us. Anything in particular you want me to tell them?"

"Just do your best, McKay. You know what to mention already," Sam muttered back.

Rodney hesitated but ultimately nodded and turned to the captain's seat. He sat down in it, placed the camera on the top of the control panel and pointed it in his own direction.

He pressed record and began explaining the latest events to the camera, trying to squeeze as much details into it as he could. Suddenly, a thud behind him surprised McKay and he stopped talking, turning around he saw Sam lying motionless on the floor.

"Sam!" he called out and jumped from his seat. His brain, though, reminded him of the camera and the need to preserve battery and so he turned back to turn off the camera before rushing over to Sam's side.

He kneeled beside her and brought a trembling hand up to check her pulse. It was irregular and Rodney felt his own heartbeat increase.

"Come on, Sam," he whispered and turned her over gently so that she lay on her back. He saw her eyes flutter and was relieved when they opened. Her blue eyes were unfocused and only half-open.

"That's it, Sam. Wake up," he coaxed but could see that she was slipping back to unconsciousness.

"Send the message," she managed to whisper before her head lolled to the side. Rodney looked down at her face and nodded, he then stood from the ground and headed over to the camera. He plugged it into the ship's computer and opened up a subspacefield. Pressing the final keys he made sure the message was transmitting and then went back to Sam. He carefully lifted her up and carried her back to her quarters.

* * *

Four hours later at Stargate Command, the chevrons of the gate started glowing at the same time and Walter picked up the phone to call the general, as he'd been instructed.

"Hammond," the general answered as he lifted the phone.

"We're receiving another message from the Arcanum, sir."

"Understood, sergeant," Hammond said and put down the phone.

George stood from his chair and walked out of his office into the briefing room where three impatient men were already waiting. Teal'c was sitting stoically, staring into the wall, though his thoughts, Hammond guessed, were most likely on other things. Next to him sat Daniel gazing down into a coffee cup and across from him sat Jack, staring idly at the tabletop. As the general stepped into the room, all three men sat up in their chairs, looking expectantly at him.

"Gentlemen," Hammond said. "We have another message."

He took a seat next to Jack and all four turned to the big screen in the briefing room. Sergeant Siler had wired it earlier so that the Arcanum's message would go straight there, instead of disturbing Harriman's computer.

Within short, McKay's face appeared on the screen. It was apparent that he was on the bridge and far in the background they could see Sam's figure with her back to the camera.

McKay took a deep breath and begun explaining, "Our plan worked. You got our message and we now know what direction Earth is in. Now we face another problem. The hyperdrive crystal is cracked, and will not last a long period if we jump into hyperspace. Sam calculated that it will last approximately one hour, but we need about four. We're working on ways to fix this, meanwhile we will continue on our course towards Earth without the use of hyperspace.  
If we can't come up with anything else, we hope that we can decrease the amount of space between our position so that the hyperspace jump won't be too long. Other then that there is also the small problem of the-"

As he was about to keep talking the four men in the briefing room all saw Sam's figure in the background suddenly drop to the floor, and motionlessly remain there. McKay seemed to notice this too, for he turned around in his seat and called out to her, "Sam!"

They saw McKay rise from his chair, stopping to seemingly hesitate and then turn back to turn off the camera.

The screen went black and George let out a worried breath.

He looked around at the others, Teal'c looked ever stoic though his expression was a great deal grimmer now then it had been just minutes ago.

Daniel seemed beyond worried, his eyes fixed on the screen and his mouth hanging open slightly.

Slowly, George turned to his 2IC and saw him trying to collect himself. But seeing major Carter collapse in the background and not knowing how she was doing, seemed to be the last straw for Jack.

"Dammit, Carter!" Jack growled and quickly stood from his chair to exit the room. Not sparing a glance at the other three, he was soon long gone down the corridor.

* * *

_And that's the end of that chapter.  
Not much to say, I think, it kind of speaks for itself.  
However! What McKay was about to mention, before he was abruptly interrupted, was the fact that they're cloaked from the radar. But, alas, he didn't get a chance and so Earth still doesn't know that._

_Next chapter will include: A "depressed" Jack, mentions of the Asgard, Sam sad and worrying about being able to get home in time, more bad news et cetera..._


	9. Friendship

_A/N: And chapter 9! I'm sorry about the long wait for an update, people! There was just a lot of things going on here; school, driving lessons and more. But I'm here now, and I've wrote this!  
As almost always, this didn't exactly go the way I planned it. But I'm happy with it, I'm especially happy about the first scene.  
I don't want to spoil too much here, there will be more notes at the end of this chapter._

_To my reviewers: THANK YOU! YOU REALLY ARE DARLINGS, PEOPLE!_

_HAZMOT - Ah, as always, it's fun to read your review! I too think Sam's kind of expecting something worse to happen, and she really wants to go home, which is understandable. Jack definietly is afraid of losing Sam, especially so after Charlie, I think (just as you thought). I don't know, I always figured that event affected Jack more then he cares to let other people know. Poor guy... _

_scarletwitch0 - Oh, I don't know, citrus is always a good thing to have when around McKay! I hope my depressed Jack pleases you... or something. You know what I mean. :P._

_sammie77 - Sorry, I hate cliffies too, actually. Still, I seem to write them anyway... Must be a masochistic thing (shrugs)._

_makki - It definitely put a lot of pressure on Jack, and he does try to work on those things alone, but people won't let him be alone. :P. What could go wrong? Oh, dear, a lot of things... but don't worry. This chapter kind of gives them a time frame, so at least not too much can happen, since time won't allow it._

_ALIMOO1971 - Thank you! The Asgard, I'm afraid, will not make an appearance in this story. Why, you ask? The answer will be given by Daniel in this chapter. It's kind of a shame really, I like those guys!_

_Allie108 - Thank you. Well, Sam fainted. Not much else there, poor girl hasn't eaten for awhile etc. She really should take care of herself! _

_BettyHall223 - Jack and despair definitely match in this... Ah, well, things can only go up from here? Right? ..._

_Cecilia Friesen - I love when Jack calls her Carter too, I think, over the years, that it definitely has grown into something more. He practially never calls her anything else, and when he does it's most often to someone he's not too familiar with. I don't find it hilarious as more... sweet. I suppose._

_Hannah - First of all: Thank you for your constructive critisism. Now, allow me to explain myself. :P. First off, as for the gamma radiation, what I meant wasn't as much that Earth was going to pick up the radiation as much as a ship, any ship really. I didn't really write that out to explain it but I meant that they (Rodney and Sam) were hoping that someone would pick up the radiation, how unlikely that may be, and that that someone was an ally or a ship from Earth that could 'call' SGC and tell them about it. Then, about the antimatter engine... I know you probably won't believe me now but... I thought that sounded weird too. It was the same thing that you commented on that I wondered if it really could be like I wrote it, in the end though it wasn't my words though it's very possible that I misunderstood either my own notes or the program I watched. Either way, thank you for pointing that out to me. It sounded weird and you're probably right, it's probably wrong. As for the first chapter: Most if it is a bit OOC to me, but I still like it. :P. And McKay, well... is getting better. I had a hard time writing him at first, he came off more as a joke then a serious character, and that's not entirely how he is. Oh, long response. Sorry. I just wanted to explain myself and hope that you understand more clearly where I come from now. :).¨_

_Now, on to the story!_

* * *

**Chapter 9: Friendship**

Jack sat with his back against one of the big machines in Sam's lab, doing mostly nothing besides thinking. He had wanted solitude and this was the best place to get it, no one would come in here until Sam returned. Jack inhaled deeply, he knew this was starting to take its toll on him on a mental level. Hell, he'd known for a while now, not just from this last mission, how she affected him when situations like this arose. It had been a long time, years really, since he'd last worried about her as a commanding officer instead of a friend.

Jack snorted to himself. _Friend_. True enough, she was his friends, one of his best really, but that wasn't why he felt like this. When Daniel or Teal'c ended up in trouble he'd be worried but with Sam he felt almost to the point of terrified. He didn't want to lose her. He'd already lost Charlie and Sara, a life that now felt like it had played out light years ago to him, he couldn't lose Sam. She was a part of his family now, with Daniel and Teal'c too.

Suddenly, the lights were turned on in Sam's lab and Jack closed his eyes from the obtruding light. He hadn't expected anybody to come in and slowly he opened his eyes to see Daniel dressed in his usual blue BDU's standing in the doorway, silently watching Jack in return.

"Well, speak of the devil," Jack said, aware of his last thoughts before Daniel's arrival.

"Jack," Daniel stated and took another step into the room, leaving the door open behind him. "…Come here often?"

"Thought that was my line," Jack muttered back as he turned away from his younger friend.

His brown eyes instead landed on his shoe laces and lazily he started picking at them. Even though he let this pastime distract him, he wasn't unaware of the fact that Daniel moved closer.

Across from him, Daniel leaned against the lab table and slid down to the floor, all the while remaining silent. Jack felt Daniel's gaze on him and knew that the archeologist would keep on staring silently until Jack spoke up about it. Not wanting to prolong the irritating stare, Jack harshly looked up and narrowed his eyes at Daniel, the younger man didn't even flinch at Jack's best mean-colonel look.

"What?" Jack snarled finally, knowing full well that he shouldn't take out his anger at the situation on Daniel, but still he couldn't find it in him to care whether or not he hurt Daniel. Daniel would understand, Daniel always did.

"Sam's been out there…," Daniel began and then silenced to do the count in his head.

Without a thought, Jack automatically responded, "15 days."

"I knew that," Daniel defended himself and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.

"I know you knew that."

"Yeah? Well I know you knew that I-"

Jack quickly interrupted before the linguist could get any further, this really wasn't the time to argue, "Daniel!"

Daniel fell silent and his eyes eventually turned away from Jack to watch the floor. "Sorry, got a little sidetracked…"

Jack watched Daniel and saw his shoulders slump slightly and Jack felt a stab in his heart, Daniel was hurting too, obviously, but Jack was acting as if he was the only one that did.

Releasing a deep breath, he breathed, "I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean to take out my frustration at you…"

"I know," Daniel responded, and Jack smiled knowingly. Just what he'd thought.

Daniel turned around at a sound in the doorway and Jack looked up as well to see Dr. Janet Frasier step into the lab.

"Hey, Janet…," Daniel said softly as she walked further in towards them.

"Hey, how are you guys holding up?" she asked, gently running a hand through her hair and Jack's heart once more constricted. Janet was hurting too, her shaking hands was evidence enough that she was worried about Sam.

"You know, same old, same old," Jack said, trying to relieve the tension a bit. "Knees are a bit funny and my back's killing me in this position, but other then that I'm doing great."

"Colonel," Janet began, looking as if she was ready to argue with him but obviously thought better of it as she didn't continue, instead she sat down next to Daniel and he scooted sideways to give her more room.

"So…," Janet began again once she got settled. "Any news?"

"Not really," Daniel responded. "The Asgard finally called back though, after we left like five messages to them. It turns out that they can't help us at the moment, they're busy fighting the replicators elsewhere and don't want to lose their advantage that they just obtained. Thor did say though that they might have a ship for us in a month or so."

"A month…," Jack echoed. "What good will it do anyway? We can't seem to find Carter's ship anywhere."

"Yeah, well, the Asgard radars and scanners are greatly more powerful then the Tok'ra's, maybe they'd be able to pick up the Arcanum's signal in a month."

"I am afraid a month will not be sufficient from our point of view," a voice spoke from the doorway and all three turned back to see Teal'c stepping inside, his face grim.

"Well, this is becoming quite the party," Jack pointed out to no one in particular. "Teal'c, did you bring the beer?"

"I did not, O'Neill."

"Oh, darn."

"Hang on, Teal'c," Janet began as Teal'c moved to stand beside Jack. "What do you mean it won't be sufficient?"

"I fear in a month it will be too late to save major Carter and dr. McKay."

"What? Why?" Daniel asked, his blue eyes wide and unsure.

"We have just received new word from the Alpha Site."

"…And?" Daniel asked inquiringly.

"They have had further contact with PX3-983, the planet from which the Arcanum set out from. Apparently the Arcanum was given a lot of food to last the journey and to be given to Alpha Site upon their arrival, however the inhabitants of PX3-983 decided it was unwise to add too much oxygen into the tanks, seeing as the trip was supposed to take just a week."

"How much oxygen are we talking about here?" Jack asked.

"Enough to last a month. Or less."

"How come they didn't give this information to us sooner?"

"I do not know, O'Neill," Teal'c informed him. "That was not made clear to myself and general Hammond when we received the message. I am sorry."

"Great," Jack said with his best sarcastic voice. "This is all just… _peachy_."

Jack was aware of the look that Janet and Daniel exchanged in front of him and so wasn't surprised when Daniel cleared his throat as he turned back to watch Jack.

"Jack," Daniel began and Jack groaned on the inside, knowing what was to come. "Sam… She's… I mean, if _you_…"

"Spit it out, Daniel."

"Jack, we know how you and Sam feel about each other," Daniel said, shocking Jack.

_Had they been that obvious? Did everyone know of his feelings for Carter?_

Seeing the unspoken questions in Jack's eyes, Daniel quickly shook his head.

"Don't worry, Jack. You're both good at hiding it. We only know because we're so close to you."

"Oh…" was Jack's profound response, he remained silent for a second before he continued. "Let's drop this subject, shall we?"

"Jack, you need to talk about-"

"Just leave it, Daniel."

"No, Jack!" Daniel insisted. "You obviously need to talk to someone about this. We know this is hard for you, don't push us away. We can help you, just talk to us."

"Come on, Daniel, you know I'm not a very talkative guy… I don't like to jabber away about my feelings like an irrational fool…"

Daniel sighed exasperatedly, "Jack…"

"Daniel," Jack said, his voice very much a warning for Daniel to drop the subject. Their eyes met and a silent duel was held, in the end, Daniel turned away and Jack raised his chin high, feeling satisfaction at the small win.

"Fine… I'll drop it," Daniel said. "But you and Sam should talk about this, I don't care what the Air Force thinks right now. All I know is that this isn't making your lives easier, having to hide your feelings for each other and all…"

Jack sat silently, not responding to Daniel's words. Distantly he was aware that Janet started up another conversation with Daniel and Teal'c, but Jack no longer felt a need to talk. Though he didn't want to be alone either, somehow having his three friends here with him made him feel safer in a way. It made him feel some of his hope returning, as long as he had his friends he could do this, without them he'd have been lost a long time ago. Still, it was evident that something was missing, even as the others talked it was evident that there was a void that no one of them could fill.

They needed Sam, not just Jack, they all did.

* * *

Aboard the Arcanum, Rodney was staring at the oxygen meter. There wasn't much oxygen left, from the looks of it there wasn't enough to last through the end of the week. Which meant that they only had about three days worth of oxygen left before they'd…

Rodney shook his head and turned his head in the general direction of Sam's quarters. Briefly he wondered if she was aware of this; she must have been, after the oxygen vent exploded she had checked it out. She must have seen that there wasn't much left.

Rodney leaned back against the cabins as his mind raced, after the vent incident Sam had made sure she was the one to always check the oxygen tank, but Rodney had never thought that had meant anything.

Exhaling briefly, he pushed away from the wall and quickly made his way back to Sam's quarters. The doors opened for him and he stepped inside, immediately Sam sat up in her bed to face him.

"Here to let me out?" she asked and Rodney almost smiled at the desperate plea in her voice. Ever since she fainted he'd made sure she stayed in her quarters, it was time for her to take care of herself and heal now, he'd decided. 24 hours had barely passed but Sam seemed bored nonetheless, apparently sitting around doing nothing was as boring as it sounded.

"Sam," Rodney began grimly and Sam's eyes looked at him in confusion. He looked back at her, allowing his displeased feelings to be conveyed through his eyes. A few seconds later he saw something change in Sam's eyes, she had understood what he silently was trying to convey.

"You saw the oxygen meter didn't you?" she asked.

"I did. How long have you known?" Rodney inquired. "Since the vent exploded?"

"Actually," Sam said. "The inhabitants of PX3-983 informed me before they left that they were thinking of filling up our oxygen for a month, they asked me if it was a good idea. I told them it was."

"Right," Rodney nodded and leaned back against the wall, allowing himself to sink down to the floor. "Well, this definitely complicates things further."

"Yeah," Sam nodded in agreement. "I really thought we'd be at Alpha Site by now. I can't believe the second crystal was broken too, just our luck…"

"How long?" Rodney asked, wanting to get confirmation of his own suspicions.

"Well, as I said, PX3-983 gave us enough for a month. But the vent explosion probably placed it down to around 20 days. So… about 5 days left before the oxygen goes out. Probably less."

"And there's nothing we can do to preserve more?" Rodney asked.

"There is, but it's a matter of obtaining a day at most…," Sam shrugged. "There's not much we can do for the oxygen tank."

Rodney sighed and closed his eyes, why couldn't things look up for them just once? They deserved a break!

"Rodney," Sam spoke slowly and Rodney opened his eyes to watch her. "Don't you think you ought to let me out of here now? I mean, we only have five days until we reach critical. We have to try and find a way to get out of this. We have to find a way to increase our speed somehow or find an alternate way to use the crystal… I have to run a few simulations and think about this…"

Rodney sighed he knew that no matter what he said, she'd still sneak out. And it wasn't like he actually had any authority over her, she was the major after all. He was surprised she'd allowed herself to remain in her room for as long as she had, nonetheless, this had been inevitable in the end. Defeated, he nodded and Sam's face brightened.

Sam stood from the bed and made her way over to the door as Rodney let out another sigh. She stopped mid-step and turned to him. She surprised him by kneeling by his side and slowly he turned to her with wide eyes.

"We'll try to find a way, Rodney. Luck isn't on our side but I've gotten out of tougher binds," Sam said, though there was something in her eyes that made Rodney wonder if she wasn't trying to convince herself more then she was trying to convince him. Even so, he slowly nodded and stood from the ground.

"I'm sure you're right. I'll go have another look at the oxygen tank, see if I can decrease the oxygen outlet to unnecessary departments on the ship and then I'll send another message to Earth to inform them of this. You work on getting us home in time, we have to find a way to use hyperspace and get home."

Sam nodded and smiled slightly before Rodney exited the room, Sam watched as the doors closed behind him and she exhaled deeply. This was definitely going to be a tough struggle, she knew, but they still had a chance. And maybe, just maybe, the colonel had found a way to save them. After all, he never left anyone behind.

Sam smiled to herself, she really wished the colonel, Daniel and Teal'c were with her now. SG-1 would have been able to pull this through. Sam shook her head, no, she couldn't think like that. She had to stop thinking of the what-ifs and settle for the truth and facts. She could do this alone, she could find a way to get home to her friends, and she'd be damned if she gave this up without a fight.

* * *

_A/N: So, we're slowly approaching the climax of this story.  
Things aren't looking to good for Sam and McKay now, they have a deadline they have to maintain. And think about it, they have to cross several galaxies, something which you don't do in 5 days without a hyperdrive.  
It's not going to be easy, solving this. But, I suppose, it is possible. ..._

_The next chapter includes: A McKay-message and, if nothing else changes, a message from Sam as well._ . .


	10. Sam's Message

_A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait in update but I've been ill and there's been last minute school stuff etc. that kinda robbed me of my precious writing time. But I'm here now! And I'm devoted to this story!_

_Here's the deal: I realized that the next chapter could very well be the very last chapter. And you're not even getting a warning about it, well... you are now, but maybe it's a bit late for it now. :P. What I want to know, as I have decided on a 'favor' to you readers, is if you want this story to travel down to AU-land? And also, would you like an epilogue?_

_What can I say about this chapter? Not much, besides the fact that I enjoyed writing Teal'c the most in this chapter. I've found that it's really fun writing the scenes at the SGC, because they never quite develop the way I want them to. Which is all fun, guys! At least, I think so. :)._

_Reviewers: Wonderful people; thank you!_

_Allie108 - I'm glad they're not giving up either, I mean... there's not much time left about now. I loved writing said Jack and Daniel part. :)._

_ALIMOO1971 - Well, aren't we bright! (not being sarcastic, actually) :). That really is a great idea and I feel completely blonde to admit that I hadn't thought of it before. I've been kind of narrow-minded when it came to getting them back to Earth. It's always been fly the ship... of course, there are other options, which they would have taken into consideration if it had been on the show. Man, oh, man, do I feel kind of stupid now. :P._

_Cecilia Friesen - Nothing's going to happen between Rodney and Sam, they're just developing a friendship. After what they've been through, I think they would do at least that. But a romantic relationship? Nah, Sam wouldn't go for it. At least, not in this universe. Jack, rude? Nah, ya think? ;)._

_BettyHall223 - You know, so am I. So am I._

_dp - Thank you! Hope you like this too. :)._

_makki - Oh, you're good at guessing. Though, it's not the end yet!_

_HAZMOT - I think Daniel, Janet and Teal'c know that Jack want some privacy, just as much as they want to help him. And, without spoiling too much, McKay does indeed mention Sam's welfare. I won't spoil Sam's message though, but it certainly catches Jack's attention._

_scarletwitch0 - Thanks! You know, if there's any character I feel I might be writing pretty good, it's Daniel. And I definitely agree on the annoying younger brother who's the voice of reason-thing. He is. And we love him for that :)._

* * *

**Chapter 10: Sam's Message**

"-And in conclusion, I suppose I should mention the cloaking device," McKay summed up on the screen in front of them after a lengthy speech about the oxygen tank's low levels. "You see, it appears we're cloaked on radar, but presumably not in real life. We don't know why and neither Sam nor I can seem to figure out what's wrong."

Jack cleared his throat as he shifted in his chair, despite being surrounded by his friends; Teal'c, Daniel, Janet and Hammond, Jack didn't feel the same comfort as before. One simple reason for his increasingly agitated mood was because Jack was tired of listening to McKay ramble on and on about something he didn't understand anyway, all he knew was that McKay hadn't mentioned Sam and therefore he found no reason to listen. Lazily twirling a pen between his index fingers, he expertly avoided Daniel's occasional glaring because of something Daniel found important about McKay's message that he thought Jack should pay attention to.

"Oh, I suppose you're wondering about Sam too," McKay said and Jack's head whipped up. "She's alright. Though, she's suffering from a concussion which seems anything but mild. I'm not sure if she's going to make it much further, but then again… her injury won't really matter considering we only have about three days left… McKay out."

Jack's eyes were wide and unblinking as he looked around at the other occupants of the room, "Three days? What did he mean by that?"

"Jack," Daniel began, slightly irritated. "He explained their situation clearly. They had an accident early on that lessened their oxygen supply, didn't you hear?"

"I suppose I didn't, Daniel."

"Well, maybe you should try listening then," Daniel suggested with a meaningful look.

"Gentlemen, doctor, what do we make of this?" Hammond asked from the head of the table, successfully ending any staring game that might have been about to commence between Jack and Daniel.

Teal'c opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Daniel and his much quicker mouth, "Well, it's not really good news, is it? I mean, _three days_ before they run out of oxygen?"

"I see it as us having three days to rescue her, _them_, in," Jack said. "That's plenty of time for a rescue mission."

Teal'c inclined his head and once more tried to respond when Daniel again interrupted, "You see it as a good thing, Jack?"

"No, I don't see it as a good thing, Daniel!" was Jack's irritated response, matched by a glare. "I'm just saying that it's enough time for a rescue mission!"

"If I may speak-" Teal'c began but didn't get much farther.

The Jaffa turned his head to the side to listen as his linguist friend interrupted, "_Jack_. _We don't have_ a rescue mission! We don't know where they are!"

"Well, look who's being mister pessimistic," Jack said sarcastically. "I thought it was my job."

"It is. And you can have it back as soon as I get to say-"

Daniel stopped mid-sentence as Teal'c proclaimed, loud enough to even disturb the archeologist, "General Hammond, I believe we should once again try and contact the Tok'ra and Asgard to ask for their urgent help. Perhaps there has been new developments that could aid our cause."

"That's a good idea, Teal'c," Hammond nodded. "Make it so. Dismissed."

* * *

"Transmission go off without a hitch?" Sam asked as she entered the bridge, carrying a sandwich in her hand. McKay turned around in the captain's seat and nodded.

"Yep. No problem," he said.

Sam nodded back, took a bite from the sandwich, and headed for the rear regions of the bridge to work on a few simulations. Rodney watched her for a second before standing up, he placed the camera he'd been holding down onto the control panel on his right and then leaned against the captain's chair.

"Sam, I've been thinking," Rodney began.

Sam quickly responded, "When don't you?"

"Well, thank you," Rodney said with a cocky smile. "You know, for once I haven't been thinking about genius stuff. I've actually been thinking about _you_."

Sam's shoulders slumped, "_Oh_?"

"Yep."

"If this is about us dating then you can forget that idea right now, Rodney. It's not going to happen."

Rodney's smile was effectively wiped off his face, "Oh… well, alright. I'm a man, I can handle being turned down."

He saw Sam glancing at him over her shoulder and thought he saw amusement in her eyes, _why had she been amused by that_? Rodney cleared his throat and straightened, "Actually, Sam, I was wondering if you wanted to send the next message."

"No, Rodney."

"Why not?" Rodney frowned. "They're probably worried sick back home not hearing anything from you, and the fact that your… _fainting_ ended up on the message home probably had an impact too. I can say you're fine a thousand times over and they're still only going to want to hear it from you."

"I… can't, Rodney."

"Why not?"

"I'm not ready to say goodbye," Sam admitted, still with her back to him.

"I'm not asking you to."

Sam slowly turned around to face him, "No, Rodney, if I leave a message, it's going to be to say goodbye."

Rodney opened his mouth to comment but decided not to say anything. His eyes locked with Sam's for a second and he saw fading hope in her blue orbs, but her gaze suddenly traveled from Rodney's eyes to something beside him. Her eyes widened and she hurried forwards as Rodney frowned at her in confusion.

"What?" he asked as she reached the control panel on his right.

Sam lifted the camera and groaned, "Rodney, you left it on."

She quickly turned it off and turned to look at him, "Do you know for how long it's been running?"

"Eh, no…," Rodney said. "I didn't even know it was running. I'm really sorry, Sam."

"Yeah, I know. But this is really not good. If we're unlucky we're not going to get another chance at sending a message to Earth. We might only have one message left to record before the batteries die…"

"Hopefully, we won't be needing more then that," Rodney said, cursing his own brief stupidity. "Maybe we can do the jump into hyperspace now. How much time have we earned these days?"

"It's been two days, Rodney. So… about thirty minutes of hyperspace traveling. Perhaps an hour."

Now it was Rodney's time to groan, "We're still short about 2-3 hours then…"

"Let's just keep running simulations and try different approaches to this, we might still be able to find a solution."

"We can't run simulations to the very end, Sam. We need a plan as well."

* * *

Two days later, both Sam and Rodney felt lost. If nothing else happened, they had about one day left of oxygen. Precautions had been taken in de-pressurizing several levels aboard the ship to save more oxygen, so hopefully they'd earned another day there, still there was no way to be sure of that.

They'd kept running simulations and Sam had worked on the engine, trying to get it to run faster, but still nothing seemed enough.

Eventually, by the end of their 19th day in space, Rodney walked up to Sam, where she was working in the rear regions of the bridge.

She turned to him questioningly and he pressed the camera into her hands wordlessly. Understanding his unspoken words, Sam looked down at the camera. Maybe it was time to record her goodbyes. Inhaling deeply she walked away from the bridge to the privacy of her quarters.

* * *

Jack stared idly into space where he sat in the commissary opposite Teal'c who was 'consuming his second take of nourishment', by the Jaffa's own words. Jack had settled for a piece of cake, but had still not fully enjoyed it. As the days went by and they came closer to the deadline of 20 days, the more worried Jack became. They hadn't gotten a single message after the one two days ago and this bothered Jack immensely.

For all he knew, Samantha Carter could already be dead… And if she was, he would blame himself. He should have found a way to save her, but everything seemed hopeless from their view, and there wasn't much help they could get either. The Asgard were still busy but had promised to send a ship out to search for the Arcanum as soon as possible, which would still probably be too late, and the Tok'ra had ships, or, more specifically, Jacob was offering his ship, but they still didn't know where to search for the Arcanum.

"Are you experiencing a feeling of helplessness, O'Neill?" Teal'c suddenly asked, breaking through Jack's silent thoughts.

Jack looked up at his friend, "Is there any other way I could feel right now, T?"

Teal'c pondered this briefly, "I do not suppose so. If it is of any consolation, I believe major Carter is experiencing similar emotions to your own at this moment."

"Yeah," Jack said in a low voice, grimacing slightly. "We'll never know that now, will we?"

Teal'c inclined his head sadly as Daniel stepped into the commissary, spotting his friends he quickly made a beeline for their table. Just as the archeologist sat down, a voice boomed over the intercom, "SG-1 to briefing room immediately!"

All three men jumped from their seats simultaneously and hurried out of the commissary.

Jack was the first to actually reach the briefing room and stepped inside, Hammond was already seated in his usual seat.

"Another message, sir?" Jack asked as he sat down in a chair as well, Teal'c and Daniel taking a seat on the other side of the table.

"Yes, it's coming on now, son," Hammond responded and nodded at the wide screen.

Not a second later, Sam's face appeared on the screen. All four men heaved a sigh of relief at her seemingly unharmed state.

"Hey. It's Sam Carter. This message is to all you guys back home at Earth, this is my first and last message to you. I'm sorry it had to come to this but this is the last message that we can send you before the batteries die.

…I… I've tried everything to save us, but I've suffered from a concussion and… it's been a trial, going through this again. I just wish I could have found a way out.

Seeing as this is my last message to you guys at home, I just want to take time to… wish you luck. I want you to know that I am happy with my life, I have no regrets. I've experienced so much during my time at the SGC and I consider my time with you to be the happiest days of my life. We've had our ups and downs over the years, thankfully mostly ups, and I can't say that I owe that to any other people then you guys. I'm gonna miss you and I want you to know that I love you. Daniel, Teal'c, I want you to take care, alright? You've both been so good to me, I… I can't even begin to explain… Just… just take care. Promise me that. Janet, you've been a constant friend to me through these past years and that means a lot to me.

Dad, I'm really going to miss you and I'm glad we've had these past years together. Selmak, take care of dad for me. General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, it's been an honor serving with you both. I… I… I'm sorry I couldn't make it home to you, but I want you to have great lives and I don't want you to cry for my death, but smile for my memory. Goodbye, friends. Maybe we'll see each other some day."

Here Sam smiled and Jack felt his heart constrict, _was this going to be the last time he ever saw her alive? Through a video message_?

Sam inhaled once, her eyes were dancing with unshed tears, before reaching out a hand towards the camera but suddenly stopped, her arm raised midair. As quickly as it had been raised, the hand dropped.

"I-I lied," she continued, tears slowly running down her cheeks. "I said I had no regrets in life, but I do. A few, actually. But none more regretful then this; I wish I had gone fishing with you, Jack. But now I'll never get the chance…"

She silenced again a second before her eyes went wide, as if realizing what she had just admitted. "Oh, God, I'm sorry if I got you into trouble. I don't wish court martial on you. I… I mean, I didn't- I don't…," Sam paused and sighed. "Well, talk about famous last words… I've been reduced to stuttering now, if only I could have done something else… I've tried everything, I swear, and if I could, you know I would have made it back. I mean, I've tried everything, even considering-…Why _haven't_ I done that? Sam, _you idiot_, it might actually-"

Whatever else she might have been about to say was abruptly cut off as the message ended. Jack felt the last remnants of his wall crumble and he drew a shaking breath. Her last words had been directed to him, _she wanted to go fishing with him_! But now she wasn't, he was never going to take her up to his cabin and fish with her, it was all over. Unless the idea that she had gotten at the end worked out she would be dead, and once again, Jack felt helplessly useless. He couldn't sit by and do nothing, _he wouldn't_.

Having made up his mind he quickly shot up from his chair, startling the other three men who had been deep in thought.

Hammond followed Jack's movements as he headed towards the door, "Colonel O'Neill, where are you going?"

"To bring her home, general!" Jack shouted back, quickly disappearing down the corridor.

Hammond turned back to Daniel and Teal'c, who both looked back at him confused. Daniel pushed his chair back at the same time as Teal'c did and quickly headed towards the door himself, while calling out, "Jack, wait! Wait for us!"

His shouts echoed down the hallway and Hammond turned to Teal'c who bowed his head once at the general before following Jack and Daniel with wide, determined strides.

* * *

_What does my human eyes see? Is it Jack, with a plan? Why, yes it is!_

_Next chapter: Both Jack and Sam's plans are revealed! But... will either of them work? Don't miss the conclusion of 'Find Your Way Home'_

_TBC..._


	11. Journey Home

_Chapter 11 is up! I hope you'll enjoy it! As always, it was a pleasure to write!_

_Eh, not much to say, I think. The chapter kind of speaks for itself. I do hope that none find it rushed, though. _

_Reviewers: THANK YOU! This chapter is dedicated to you guys who have taken the time to review this story, thank you. :)._

_makki - thank you very much! I was worried that the message would be too cliché and too... OOC-Sam... Ah well, I tried at least. :). Her mentioning fishing was a given to me, it just felt right. Oh, hey, I'm all for no Pete too. ;)._

_ALIMOO1971 - I love your idea. :P. As always, I should have thought of something like that, but I still kind of like this chapter's solution better, in a way. Oh, I love happy endings too. :D._

_sammie77 - Thank you very much! I hope you like this too :)._

_Cecilia Friesen - Thank you, your words were really kind and sweet. :). _

_BettyHall223 - Aw, thanks! I hope you like the solution I thought of here..._

_Allie108 - Nervous? You? Nah, don't be. Leave that to the characters. ;). _

_HAZMOT - I know, it was stupid, McKay. It wasn't supposed to go down that way originally, but in the end it did... so technically it's stupid me, not McKay. :P. Thank you very much for your kind words! They make me feel as if I'm doing something right!_

_physicsgeek - You're welcome. ;). Hope you like this too._

I just want to say a final thanks to everyone who liked that Sam mentioned fishing, I always thought she was more likely to say that then to declare her love for him. I don't know, maybe that's just me. :).

Now go enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 11: Journey Home**

Jack turned around as he, Daniel and Teal'c were beamed up to Jacob's ship through the ring transporter. As the rings disappeared, Jack smiled at Jacob who was looking more hopeful then the colonel had ever seen the older man.

"Jack?" Jacob asked. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yup."

"…So?"

Jack smirked, sometimes Jacob and Carter sounded too darn alike. "_So_, I have a plan."

Jacob raised a questioning eyebrow and turned to Daniel and Teal'c.

"I know," Daniel began. "It sounds shocking."

Jack ignored the teasing comment and waited until Jacob turned back to watch Jack once more, "I know how to get your girl home. We're going to need your ship for it."

"Of course, anything, Jack," Jacob guaranteed with a nod. "What are we going to do?"

"I'll tell you on the way, just take us to Earth's orbit as fast as you can first," Jack said, for once in his life not bothering with his usual wit.

Jacob hesitated a second, looking as if he wanted Jack to tell him more about his plan before agreeing but on seeing the firm, determined look in Jack's eyes, Jacob nodded and turned around to the control panels to do as he'd been asked.

* * *

Up on the spaceship, McKay watched as Sam ran around the bridge, preparing her plan, which she still had failed to fill him in on.

"Eh, Sam?" he tried, but got no response. "What about telling me the plan too? You know I can help."

"I know," she said, nodding fervently, but didn't say anything else.

McKay frowned as she sat down in the seat before a control panel and leaned closer to her in the captain's seat to try and see what she was doing. "…You're transferring power from the shields, why?"

Sam glanced at him briefly before turning back to her work again, "The shields are inoperable when we're in hyperspace anyway, I figure this way they can still be useful to us. I'm transferring the power to the hyperdrive."

"You think the extra power source will be enough to boost our speed and bring us home before the crystal breaks?"

"Yes. Exactly," Sam nodded.

"Well, then, why didn't you tell me that? I can help!" Rodney said, pouting slightly.

"Then help, Rodney," Sam sighed back at him.

"Oh, okay, I'll see if I can find any other power sources that we can spare for the hyperdrive's power," Rodney said and quickly jumped down to the other control panel on his left. He pressed a few buttons and initiated his search for useful energy. "I can transfer power from the heat tank, but that means it could get awfully cold in here if we don't make the entire jump."

"We're going to die anyway, McKay," Sam said. "I mean, if we don't get home that is."

"Right," McKay nodded and set to work.

"I'm going to transfer power from the steering crystal as well," Sam said.

Rodney turned to her in confusion, "What? Why?"

"So that we can go home, Rodney," Sam said and jumped from her seat, exiting the bridge before Rodney had a chance to stop her.

Rodney frowned as the doors closed behind her, _what was she planning?_

They wouldn't be able to get home without the steering crystal, they wouldn't be able to steer if she transferred power from it. Knowing Sam, though, Rodney knew she wouldn't have suggested it if she didn't have a good plan. He just hoped it would work too.

Rodney turned back to his work and managed to pull energy from the heat tank, radio and from the radar as well. When done, Rodney leaned back in his seat just as the doors opened again and Sam returned.

"I think that's all the extra power we can acquire at the moment," Rodney said and tiredly pointed to the control panel.

Sam nodded as she lifted the camera that was resting on top of the control panel and Rodney watched in silence as she walked to the rear regions of the bridge and plugged it into the ship.

"What are you doing now?" he asked, still not entirely following her line of thought.

"We are going to send a message back home."

"But we can't record a new one, Sam. The batteries won't last for that."

"No. But we can send a message we've already recorded," Sam pointed out.

"…True. But what good will it do us?"

"We're going to follow it, Rodney," Sam explained.

"Follow it? As in, _follow it_?" Rodney asked. "You mean we're going to fly after the radio transmission through the hyperspace window?"

Sam nodded in response, "Yes, on autopilot."

"Well then…," Rodney said, processing her plan, finally understanding why she wanted to pull power from the steering crystal as well. He thought it over once and came to the conclusion that it could work. "Let's do it. Let's fly home."

Sam smiled as she opened up a hyperspace window and transmitted the message. She quickly walked back to her usual seat and started the autopilot, within seconds the Arcanum zoomed off into hyperspace, flying fast towards Earth.

"We're flying faster then normal in hyperspace. It's working," Sam said and smiled to herself, she was finally going home to where she belonged.

* * *

Jack tapped his foot restlessly where he stood next to Jacob on the bridge, on his left, Jacob was steering the ship.

"So…," Jacob said again, raising an eyebrow at Jack. "You've still not said much about your plan and we'll reach Earth shortly."

Jack looked down at his watch, they'd flown for about an hour now and Jack knew the others must be getting irritated at not hearing his plan, if the roles had been reversed, he knew he'd have been.

"It's simple really," Jack began as Daniel and Teal'c joined them on the bridge. "We fly to Earth's orbit, ask Hammond to send the last message we received back to the Arcanum and then we follow the transmission. We do what they've been doing, but in reverse."

Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a look.

"That is indeed a good plan, O'Neill."

"Thanks, T. I still got it, eh?" Jack asked, a smile once again forming on his lips.

"I have to agree with Teal'c, Jack. The plan could work," Jacob nodded and turned forwards again to look out the window at the planet below. "And now we're here. You better radio George, tell him the plan too."

Jack nodded and went off to do as he'd been told. As Jack walked off the bridge, Jacob turned to Daniel and Teal'c.

"If you guys know something else, some information that hasn't reached me yet, please tell me."

"Eh, well," Daniel began. "I'm not sure what information you've been given, Jack's told you quite a lot, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure he's left something out," Jacob said. "He knows I'm worried about Sam and doesn't want me to panic, I see it in his eyes."

"Ah," Daniel nodded. "I think I know what he could have ..._withheld_ from you. I don't suppose he told you about their oxygen supply?"

Jacob felt his heart constrict and leaned back against the panel behind him, he heard Selmak's soothing voice in his head, telling him to calm down before he heard what Daniel had to say, perhaps it wasn't so bad. Mentally, Jacob asked Selmak to be quiet as he looked up at the archeologist again.

"What?" Jacob asked, his voice quivering just the tiniest. "What about the oxygen supply?"

"They're running short of oxygen, Jacob. In fact... we don't know if they still have oxygen."

"What?" Jacob asked, his eyes now wide and fearful.

At that same moment, Jack entered the bridge with a wide smile, waving his radio in the air. He stopped mid-step as Jacob turned to watch him, complete worry written over the older man's face.

"…What? What's wrong?" Jack asked.

"They're running low on oxygen?" Jacob asked. "You're telling me my daughter could already be dead?"

Jack's head whipped in Daniel's direction as the last of Jack's smile disappeared. Jack had hoped he wouldn't have to face that information again, gladly accepting the notion of ignoring it completely. Daniel shrugged as an apology but Jack understood why he'd told Jacob, the Tok'ra deserved to know everything that was going on about his daughter.

"Jacob," Jack began, but wasn't sure how to continue, as he turned back towards the older man.

"Tell me we're not doing this in vain, Jack."

"We aren't, Jacob," Jack said, knowing that he was trying to convince himself as well. "We aren't."

Jacob watched Jack's brown eyes for a second, searching for validation and finding it there, he nodded. "Alright then. What did George say?"

"Hammond is waiting for us to give him a go," Jack said.

"Good. Tell him to transmit the message," Jacob responded and turned back to the controls. "We're ready to follow."

"O'Neill to Hammond," Jack began, speaking into his radio. "We're ready for you to transmit. I repeat, transmit the message."

A few minutes of silence followed, Jack knew it was because of their distance from Earth and found that this time he could wait patiently.

"One radio transmission is being transmitted," Jacob said suddenly, reading the ship's scanners. "I'm moving the ship to follow in hyperspace."

Jack nodded and was about to reply when there was a reply on the radio and Hammond's voice spoke loudly, "Copy that, colonel. We're transmitting it now, you should see it shortly on the scanner. Good luck, son. Good luck."

* * *

Sam checked her computer screen again, to make sure that everything was working the way they were supposed to work and smiled as she saw the results she wanted. They'd been flying for almost two hours in hyperspace now and they were flying faster then Sam had hoped. Sure, there was still at least an hour left, but hopefully the hyperdrive crystal wouldn't break before they'd reached Earth's orbit. Sam bit her cheek, deep in thought, there was of course the chance that they would be stranded further out in the Milky Way galaxy, and then they'd be in trouble. Not only did they have less then a day of oxygen left, they also didn't have a working radio, so they wouldn't be able to call for help if they were stranded too far away from Earth.

Suddenly, the Arcanum started rocking slightly back and forth and Sam shot to attention.

"What's going on?" Rodney asked, from his own seat behind the other panel. "Why are we rocking like this? There shouldn't be speed bumps in space."

Sam watched the screen, "There's not. We're in trouble."

"Woah, Sam!" Rodney suddenly exclaimed as he looked down at his screen. "I'm not sure what's happening, but you're on my screen."

Sam frowned and tried to look across the bridge at Rodney's computer, sure enough there played the video message she'd sent to Earth.

Sam and Rodney exchanged another look of confusion when suddenly the hyperspace window started to disappear and the ship shook more violently, finally coming to a grinding halt with a loud bang. The ship kept shaking for a few minutes before everything went completely black.

"Dammit!" Rodney cursed. "The universe must really hate me!"

Sam tried pressing several buttons on the control panel, but nothing happened. The entire ship was dead.

"Overload," Sam said at last. "The hyperdrive crystal must have overloaded and exploded, in doing so it took out all the other energy sources that we wired to the hyperdrive and ultimately the entire system overloaded. The ship's completely dead, Rodney."

"But we're nowhere near Earth! We're… where the hell are we?"

"I don't know. I guess we're in the Pegasus Galaxy… Maybe at the very outskirts of our own…," Sam theorized, before repeating. "I don't know."

Sam felt the very last of her hope disappearing down the drain, this had been their last chance and now they were doomed. There was no way they'd be able to get home without a hyperdrive from here in less then a day, even less was it possible considering the engine was completely dead. She'd been so close to home, yet so far away, and now she'd never see her friends and family again.

Hot tears prickled down her cheeks and she wiped them away before lowering her head to the control panel. Slowly she banged her forehead against the panel, hoping that this action could make her forget the entire event of these past twenty days.

"Eh, Sam…," Sam heard Rodney's voice beside her but didn't bother looking up. "I think you ought to see this."

"Not now," was her response. "Busy."

Sam closed her eyes and kept banging her head lightly on the panel, she thought she saw a flash of light around her and was almost positive she'd heard a familiar sound… but, Sam knew better, there was no one else out there, there were no ring transporters out here, so it couldn't have been one. It was just Rodney, her and the Arcanum.

She raised her head to hit the panel again but when she lowered it she found that the panel was missing and her head hit nothing but air.

Her eyes shot open and looked down at a floor Sam was very much aware didn't belong to the Arcanum, she frowned slightly before suddenly a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Becoming a masochist in my wake, Carter?"

Sam's head shot up and she saw the one person she'd longed to see the most actually standing before her, a relieved smile on his lips and a familiar twinkle in his eyes.

Jack shrugged, not losing the smile, "It was bound to happen, I suppose."

"Sir!" Sam breathed at last, Jack's smile grew and he offered her his hand to help her up from the floor. She took it and he pulled her from the ground and into, what could only be described as, a bear hug. She felt his arms tighten around her waist and she returned the gesture, closing her eyes at the feel of his warm body.

Jack felt a huge sensation of relief washing over him, she was here, in his arms, and she was alive. A throat cleared somewhere beside them and Jack reluctantly took a step back to allow the others a chance to say greet Sam too.

Sam turned from Jack's arms and looked at three other people she'd missed sorely; her dad, Daniel and Teal'c.

"Sammie," Jacob said and stepped forward to hug her.

"It's amazing really," Rodney spoke, addressing Teal'c. "What we managed to pull off. I don't suppose an alien like you could understand but we managed to pull off a great plan, several great plans. I might even say that if it hadn't been for my-"

Rodney stopped abruptly as Teal'c turned in his direction with a raised eyebrow and Rodney knew better then to continue. Teal'c turned back to Sam, who was now hugging Daniel tightly, and smiled as she stepped out of her embrace with Daniel to hug Teal'c too.

"It's so good to see you guys," Sam whispered, trying to hold back her tears.

"The feeling of extreme joy is shared by all aboard the ship, major Carter," Teal'c responded and Sam nodded as she stepped back.

"How did you know where to find us?"

"We followed a transmission we sent back to you," Daniel explained.

"That explains why we received the video message Sam recorded," Rodney nodded in understanding.

"That's a really good plan, Daniel," Sam said with a smile.

"Ah, eh, don't thank me. It was Jack's plan," Daniel said, pushing his glasses up on the ridge of his nose.

"You don't have to sound so surprised every time you say it," Jack frowned slightly at Daniel, but there was no anger in his statement as he still had a smile on his lips. Jack turned back to Sam who was watching him with wide eyes. "I do have my moments, you know."

"I know," Sam smiled back with a nod, before turning to her dad. "Where are we, by the way?"

"Outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy," Jacob explained. "Let's take you home, Sam. You need to be checked up, you both do actually."

"Yes, well, thank you," Rodney said truthfully. "For saving us and all."

Jacob nodded and together with Teal'c, Daniel and Rodney, he left the room. Sam moved to follow the others but was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm. She turned back to Jack and looked into his deep brown eyes that were looking at her with such warmth and affection that Sam felt her heart speed up.

Jack's eyes looked her up and down, looking for any wounds but found no other then the old one on her forehead, "You okay?"

"I am."

"You sure?"

Sam smiled and repeated softly, "I am. I'm okay."

"I'm… I'm glad your okay, Carter. I really am."

"Me too," Sam said and hesitated just a split second before continuing. "Jack."

Jack's smile grew as she said his name, "C'mere."

He pulled her back into a protective hug and they stayed in each others arms a few minutes before pulling back, though Jack still held her close to him, his arms still encircled around her waist. Slowly he leaned towards her, resting his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"What happens now?" Sam asked and Jack was aware she wasn't talking about their journey home but about the two of them.

"What do you say we go fishing?" Jack asked and Sam pulled her forehead back from his to look into his eyes. She looked at him inquiringly and all Jack could do was smile back.

"I'd like that," Sam said at last and reluctantly stepped out from Jack's embrace.

"What do you say we join the others?" Jack said and cleared his throat.

"Good idea."

Together they headed out the room, walking shoulder to shoulder, still reluctant to lose the touch of the other.

"Hey, Carter?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Do try and stay away from spaceships for awhile, will you? Wouldn't want you stranded a third time, now, would we?"

"I'll try, Jack. I'll try."

"That's all I ask. Come on, let's go home."

* * *

_And that's Chapter 11 and we have a happy ending! :)._

_Ending might have been a bit cliché, but I'm still happy with it. :)._

_I'll ask again, for this interested, if you want an Epilogue or not. I know there isn't one needed, but if you're interested I could always whip something up.  
It's leaning towards an Epilogue as several dear reviewers has commented on that, so I'm going to think up a few ideas... Still not sure when it's supposed to take place... Ah, this can only be good. :)._


	12. Gone Fishing

_An Epilogue, as promised! :). I'm giving you this a bit early because... well, because I feel like it. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I wanted to share this with you. Call it a birthday present from eh, well, from me to us all. That sounded a bit cliché, I know, but I'm like that right now. This chapter can tend to do that to you, I should warn._

_Reviewers: Thank you for your adorable reviews and the support you've given me over the course of this story. I want you to know that your words have touched me and will be remembered. _

_makki - Thank you very much (- does her best Elvis impression) A wedding would have been great, but alas... Ah well, someday, right? There is an AU continuation! :D_

_Baku babe - Thank you very much, you know it was tempting not to add one, but the majority wanted one... Hope it doesn't ruin things though :P._

_ilovesg1andNASA - Your vote won!_

_Allie108 - Fishing is a good way to end an epilogue, don't you think? ;)._

_HAZMOT - I thought Sam and Jack would be on the same wavelength on this. I mean, in a way it was kind of such a simple thing to do. Follow the signal to the goal, you know. It's something Jack would think of easily, and something Sam might overlook and then realize it might actually work. And the hugs - Ah, Jack, you old softie. You know he just couldn't let go of her, probably doing his best to keep touching her even after the chapter ended._

_Bumling - As you wish. :)._

_ALIMOO1971 - Your wish is my command ;)._

_sg1 huge fan - thank you! :D._

_Cecilia Friesen - You must have reviewed almost at the same time that I updated. Either way, here is an epilogue. :)._

_Cenza - Thank you, that was very kind. :). Fishing, it is!_

_If you don't stick around for my other stories, readers, I wan't you to have a nice life or just a nice evening, whichever you prefer. :)._

Enjoy this Epilogue!

* * *

**Epilogue: Gone Fishing**

Sam stood silently in the hall of Jack's cabin, taking in her surroundings. The cabin in itself seemed cozy and there was just enough space for two-three people, possibly even four. The rustic wooden walls brought with it a smell that somehow was so uniquely Jack and so uniquely right. Sam allowed the corners of her lips to tug upwards into a faint smile as she remained in place. Eventually her thoughts of peace were interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind her, Sam turned around to face Jack who was standing in the doorway, with both of their bags in his hands.

"So, what do you think?" he asked, looking almost sheepish.

"It's great," Sam said truthfully and flashed him a grin that he gratefully returned.

"I'm glad you like it, 'cause I plan on keeping you up here for a week," Jack said with a pointed look as he walked into the hall as well, placing the bags on the floor by the door and slowly turning back to Sam.

"Really?" Sam asked with an amused smile. "And what if I grow tired of this? What if I can't wait to get home?"

Jack feigned a hurt expression, "You wouldn't."

"You're right, I wouldn't."

Jack smiled at her and silently took in her appearance in his cabin, he'd finally gotten her up to Minnesota, several years after he'd first asked her. Jack thought it was about time, and knew that this little fishing trip would bring change for the both of them.

"So… What do you wanna do first?" Jack asked, breaking the silence that had begun descending over the couple.

Sam smiled again and Jack found his gaze transfixed on her lips, "Do you even have to ask?"

"I guess I don't," he responded hoarsely. "Fishing it is."

* * *

Sitting in a chair on the dock by the pond, Sam found that she was completely relaxed. She couldn't remember a single time in her life that she'd ever been this relaxed, she'd been so consumed in work for such a long time, but up here none of that mattered. She knew it should concern her, after all, work had been what kept Jack and her apart for so long and that wasn't about to change any time soon. Still, Sam knew, this trip meant a promise for something more, she just wasn't sure how much more.

She cast a glance in Jack's direction and was pleased to see a similar level of relaxation as he lazily fished by her side, slowly reeling in his line. She was aware that after they'd arrived back to Earth after her twenty day trip out in space, Jack had practically barricaded Hammond in his office and they hadn't left the room for several hours. When he'd stepped out she'd asked him what they'd talked about but he'd refused to answer her questions instead giving her one in return; he'd repeated his invitation to his cabin and she'd accepted yet again. Just a few hours later they'd set off. Already on the way up, Sam had been made aware that something had changed in their relationship, or at least in Jack's approach to their relationship, as he'd begun relaxed small talk that had lasted until they arrived at their goal.

"Hello, Earth to Sam," Jack called and Sam was drawn from her thoughts. She turned to watch Jack with wide eyes as he looked back at her, amusement twinkling in his brown eyes.

"Where were you? You seemed light years away."

"Oh, sorry," Sam said, straightening a bit in her chair. "I was just… contemplating."

"You don't say?"

"I do," was Sam's reply, she knew she was being elusive.

"Sam…," Jack said, and Sam heard the inquiry in his voice.

"Contemplating _us_," Sam added then and noticed how Jack's hand stopped reeling in the line.

"Oh?" he asked casually. "Anything you want to share?"

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same question."

"What?" Jack asked, frowning in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just wondering, Jack," Sam said. "exactly what you and general Hammond talked about."

Jack glanced at her a few seconds, looking as if he was thinking something over, then, without warning, he placed his fishing rod down on the dock and turned around in her direction.

"Before we go in to that, I just want to know… where we…," he waved his hand in the space between them, searching for the right words. "…where we stand."

"Oh," Sam said, placing her rod down as well. "I thought it was obvious."

"Amuse me, Carter," Jack said and Sam raised her eyebrow at the use of her last name.

"Well, _sir_, I think our mutual feelings are quite clear."

"Yeah, sure, you betcha," Jack smiled. "I'm just wondering how much you want this."

"What?" Sam frowned. "Do you even have to ask?"

Jack searched her eyes a second before nodding, "No. Good. Yeah, _good_."

"Jack…," Sam started softly. "Could you please tell me what's going on here?"

"I'm retiring, Sam."

"_What_?" Sam asked, her eyes wide as saucers. "You can't! The job means so much to you-"

"_You _mean more to me than my job, Sam," Jack interrupted.

"But, sir, I-"

"No, Carter, it's what I want."

"…You're not even going to let me try and change your mind, are you?" Sam asked, feeling almost crestfallen despite it being good news for them.

"Sam…," Jack sighed before continuing. "Let me explain. I went in to Hammond's office, resolute on retiring, at first he out right refused. Then he offered us a second choice."

"…Which is?"

"I'll remain at the SGC, Sam, as a civilian."

"But… then you can't lead SG-1 and we need you. Who'll lead us if you don't?"

"You will."

"_Me_?" Sam's voice hitched an octave. "But I'm not ready for this, not yet, not now."

"Sam, you are. I've watched you evolve as a soldier and as a team player for almost seven years now, you are ready to try on the role of leader."

Sam thought about his words a second before cautiously asking, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What will you do?"

"Oh, I'll still go with you on as many missions as the big guys will let me, though I'm probably going to miss a few."

"Oh, Jack," Sam said, reaching out her hand to hold his. "You can't sacrifice all this for me."

"I'm not sacrificing anything, Sam. I'm kind of being promoted actually."

"What?"

"Hammond said that as I'm not going to be the leader of SG-1 anymore, I should move on to bigger and better things. Let's face it, Sam, it's been coming for awhile… I'm getting too old for field work anyway, this way, I can help Hammond and the others and keep my knees in one piece."

"He asked you to run the SGC with him, didn't he?"

"He did," Jack smiled, squeezing her hand in his as Sam's smile returned. "So you see, I'm not really losing anything in this deal, I'd like to think I'm just gaining things."

"And you won't get bored?" Sam asked.

"Maybe a bit. But I'll at least have you to cheer me up when I do," Jack said, barely resisting the urge to wiggle his eyebrows.

"Oh, God," Sam said suddenly, her smile vanishing quickly. "I shouldn't let you do this. I should be offering to retire, not you."

"What, are you nuts?" Jack asked, eyeing her with amusement.

"Maybe I am."

"Sam… you can't retire, you haven't even reached Lt. Colonel, and when you reach it, you're not going to stop there. One day, you'll be made a General," Jack said.

"Jack-"

"Sam," Jack interrupted. "I'm okay with this, if you are. I promise you, we can make it work this way, at least we have a chance."

Sam's frown faded and Jack saw she was processing the last few minutes, Jack was aware that if he let her, she'd overanalyze the entire thing. Jack squeezed her hand again, letting his thumb stroke the back of her hand, her eyes met his and she smiled, a wide, genuine smile.

"We're really doing this, aren't we? Having this talk, I mean?" she asked.

Jack smiled back, "We are."

"Do you really think we can make this work?"

"Yeah, sure… you betcha," Jack said. "We just have to be open for change, Carter."

"…That sounded an awful lot like a cliché."

"I know," Jack groaned. "Not one of my prouder moments, Sam."

"I like it," Sam admitted.

"Yeah, well, don't expect too many of those popping up."

"I don't want clichés, sir," Sam said, her eyes twinkling in amusement. "I want you."

Jack's smile widened, "Alright, I think we've had enough clichés for a day, if I hear any more I'll have to run off into the woods and bury my head in the ground."

"Duly noted, sir," Sam said.

Jack tugged gently on her hand and she moved closer, until their foreheads touched. Jack searched her eyes and finding what he was looking for, he closed the distance between their lips and kissed her. The kiss was gentle, but still promising. It wasn't the most passionate of kisses, yet it was just enough. It was a promise of a future together, and they both knew it. Pulling back after a few seconds, Jack smiled at Sam.

"I've always wanted to do that," he admitted and Sam giggled.

Jack leaned over the side of his seat and picked up his rod, just sitting with it in his hand. He glanced down at their joined hands as Sam retrieved her rod too, he could let go of her hand to reel in his line, but he just didn't feel like it. He could fish any day,but it wasn't everyday you got to hold the hand of your former 2IC, though, Jack figured, he'd probably do it a lot from here on out.

"You know what, Sam?"

"What?"

"I love… _fishing_. I really love fishing."

"Me too, Jack. Me too."

* * *

_THE END_


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